


Stupid Thing

by Ultra



Category: Veronica Mars (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Awkward Conversations, Awkward Romance, Consequences, Drunk Sex, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/M, Family Secrets, Friendship, Getting Back Together, Getting Together, Getting to Know Each Other, Growing Up, Kissing, Moving In Together, One Night Stands, Post-Season/Series 03, Pregnancy, Sex, Unplanned Pregnancy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-03-28
Updated: 2012-03-28
Packaged: 2019-09-02 08:08:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 29
Words: 78,752
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16783033
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ultra/pseuds/Ultra
Summary: Mac and Dick spend the first anniversary of Beaver's death together, with shocking results. One drunken night might make you feel better for a while, but there are always consequences...





	1. Chapter 1

If anyone from Neptune High Class of 2006 was in the club that night, they would scarcely have believed the sight that met their eyes. They were just the two most unlikely people to be seen together like this, but then the strangest of circumstances had come to throw them together. Today was an anniversary that they could both happily forget and yet they knew they stood no chance in achieving that at all, no matter how much alcohol they consumed.

They were willing to try, willing to drown their sorrows til they forgot, however briefly, what they were, who they were, why they were here. It was his idea and he’d been surprised when she agreed to it, now she couldn’t think of one sensible reason why she ever would have refused.

The lights flashed bright enough to blind them, the music loud enough to make the whole world shake, or maybe it was just being this close to each other that was making it feel like the room was thumping and spinning.

Mac truly couldn’t figure it out and didn’t care to. She’d never danced like this, at least not in public or so close to a guy. Right now, she couldn’t care about the whys and wherefores, let her smart and sensible brain take a break as feelings and alcohol fuelled her to dance on.

Dick was used to the booze, it took a lot more to make this feel okay for him, but he’d reached that point at last, and he wasn’t going to waste a moment of the freedom that came with this high. Wrapping an arm around her waist from behind, he pulled Mac in close and they gyrated together to the booming rhythm that was trying to take them over, and they were going to let it. Laughter escaped her lips as his pulling her closer almost caused the both of them to fall, and he chuckled along with her as she turned in his arms and put her own around his neck.

They were the centre of attention with their new-style Dirty Dancing, and apparently unaware of the world around them. Their eyes were only for each other as she glanced up, dark orbs flashing beneath the bright lights. When he looked down he saw salvation in eyes that could drown a guy faster than any wave he’d ridden. He’d almost forgotten how the evening had started...

It was the last thing he’d expected. To find anyone at all in this place, at this time, it would’ve been a surprise, though on a public path it really shouldn’t have been. Still, Dick had got a shock as he’d stood at the bottom of the hotel, looking up at the stars beyond the roof from which his brother had leapt one year ago today, screaming at the sky for the injustice of it all, when suddenly he felt a hand on his shoulder.

He’d spun around so fast, he’d almost fallen on top of the girl that would startle him, though that probably wasn’t her intention. Their gazes met in the dark, no light inside them, between them, or anywhere around. There was mascara streaking down her cheeks and a hollow empty look behind her eyes.

Silently offering her the bottle in his hand, Mac had surprised Dick by taking it from him, wiping her hand over the top before putting it to her lips and gulping down more than he ever expected her too. He didn’t say anything about it, just took the bottle back and continued to stare, until finally she broke the silence.

“One day you think you’re okay,” she said, her voice cracking with emotion, sounding wrong even to her own ears. “And then it hurts all over again... the tiniest thing and I just...” She winced at the memory, turning her face away, hiding in the shadows that were both her enemy and friend.

“Me too.” He nodded once, sniffing hard and wiping his face with the back of his hand.

He understood her, him of all people, but then they were the only two in the world who’d really loved Cassidy in any real way at all. It wasn’t enough to save him, and it didn’t make sense to them that they could still mourn a person who had done what little Beaver had, but they knew in each other they could at least find someone who knew what they were going through. Today of all days they could find civility for each other, or maybe even more than that.

“You, er... you wanna go get wasted?” he asked her, and usually would’ve been assured a negative response, but there were no rules tonight, no social constraints, no sense to anything.

This was how she came to nod her acceptance, and take the hand he offered her instead of recoiling with horror. It was how they came to be so far gone they’d almost forgotten their own names as they danced, up close and personal, in the middle of the crowded night club.

The point of the night was gone, the reason for being here, any reason for anything had long since faded, drowned at the bottom of a dozen tequilas, and other drinks too numerous to mention. A combination of his unlimited credit, an overabundance of twisted grief, and a need to be anything but in pain had got them beyond wasted, to this point, arms around each other and eyes locked, only one direction left to travel.

Mac’s world was blurry at best before he dipped his head and kissed her, and then she wasn’t sure if she was even awake anymore, save for the fact her whole body was tingling, every hair standing on end as his hands moved over her every curve, seeking out skin.

Dick was drowning, and he didn’t care. Mac was always hot, even in High School, though he never would’ve told her, and still wasn’t going to now, at least not with words since they’d all but abandoned him. All he said was her name, over and over, as he trailed kisses across her face and down her neck, pulling her body flush to his, rocking them both to the rhythm of the music all around that made no sense anymore, and just became a pulsing, flashing, blinding mess that could never be as important as how good it felt to get closer to this woman.

Neither of them were so stupid or so out of it they didn’t know what they were doing, where this was leading. Even the fresh air beyond the doors didn’t sober them up when security decided their behaviour was inappropriate and threw them out. Dick might’ve fought the law if he wasn’t so intent on his mission, to lose himself so completely with Mac that neither of them would ever hurt again.

It was a ridiculous notion and they both ought to have known it, but tonight was not a night for good sense or sober thinking, far from it in fact. It was the only explanation for the entirely unromantic way it happened.

How they made it back to campus without getting killed was a minor miracle, and how they managed it without ripping the clothes off each other was even more of a triumph for modesty over debauchery, but such integrity wouldn’t last. He had her up against the wall outside of her dorm as she tried to recall if she needed keys or where she might’ve put them if she did, his hands up inside her top served as no reminder, only distraction as he kissed her long and hard, the pair of them rolling along the wall and into the door that opened of its own accord, sending them sprawling.

Mac landed on top of Dick in a fit of girlish giggles that hardly suited her, and yet she’d never been more beautiful to him. A kick was all it took to get the door closed behind them and by the time his attention was back at the task on hand, her laughter was gone, and so was her shirt. He pulled her down beside him, lips attacking her skin as she helped him catch up, pulling his T-shirt over his head fast so his kiss was not taken from her too long.

Rolling on the floor in the dark with Dick Casablancas, mentioned to a sober Mac would have little to no appeal, and yet here they were. Unromantic as it was, inappropriate as it may seem, and as unlikely as both parties would have sworn it to be just a few hours earlier, they were doing this and there was no turning back.

Two pairs of pants flung haphazardly into opposite corners of the dorm room, and underwear soon to follow, it may not be the smartest move they ever made, but damn if it didn’t feel so good.

Maybe it was true what they said, being bad felt so much better than behaving, though honestly that wasn’t why Mac was here. She couldn’t have explained if she’d wanted to, the booze had knocked out half her brain function and the rest was lost in a hazy mist of ecstasy as Dick proved that, even in this state, he knew what he was doing when it came to women.

Truth be told, he wasn’t exactly making it all about her, he was getting what he needed too, even if he couldn’t explain exactly what that was before, during, or after the event that would leave them both exhausted, elated, and more at peace for just a few moments than they had managed in over a year.

The space between this and Mac waking in the morning to find herself alone, save for a banging head, was nothing but blank. Memories were as light and fuzzy as distant clouds, and in all honesty it took a fair while before Cindy Mackenzie was even sure she hadn’t dreamt the whole thing. The lack of clothes and aches in places that had no business aching proved her mind was not playing tricks, and each part of the evening that she recalled was oh so real.

Why Dick had left her whilst she slept, she could only guess. Embarrassment, shame, fear of what came next. These were all the things she was feeling and could only assume one or all were his reasons for bolting. She didn’t blame him, not really. They’d done a very stupid thing, or possibly a series of very stupid things, but it was done now and there was no going back. This she knew as she sat on her bedroom floor, wrapped in the comforter and nothing else, holding her throbbing head, trying to forget and regret, and finding neither came easy somehow.

A month down the line, the few memories she had still haunted her while she slept sometimes. Mac wasn’t exactly an expert on sex, but as far as she knew, that one drunken night was pretty damn good, and when a girl isn’t getting any, its amazing what her imagination will conjure in the night. Still, it was a secret she kept in her head alone, never spoke to anyone about the liaison she and Dick had shared. She could only presume he’d kept his silence too, since no rumour was spread, and not a word was spoken on the subject anywhere that she heard.

Mac couldn’t say she was avoiding him, or that he was trying to stay away from her. Since the final break up between Logan and Veronica which seemed unresovable this time around, there was no excuse for Mac and Dick to end up in a room together by the default of their best friends, then Veronica went off to her internship and Wallace headed to Africa, leaving Mac alone. Too many thoughts kept her company, too much time and not enough activities to fill it made her obsess over the small stuff, and then came something not so small.

Five times she checked the calendar.

Four times she went back and forth between drug stores.

Three messages had to be left on her best friends cell before she finally got to talk to her.

Twice Veronica had to ask what was wrong before a tearful Mac could find her voice and finally admit the truth.

One very stupid thing she’d done, and here was the result;

“I’m pregnant.”


	2. Chapter 2

The invitation had been immediately made and accepted in the space of a minute. Veronica so wanted to be there for Mac but flying back to Neptune would mean her FBI internship was ruined and that would only damage any future career she craved in the field. Instead she made the suggestion that her friend come visit her. Maybe it wasn’t strictly within the rules to have Mac share her room, but she was a friend in need and that over-ruled just about everything else.

Plane ticket duly booked, Mac had told her parents she was off to visit Veronica but left out the main reason why. Mr and Mrs Mackenzie waved her off with a smile, not a hint of suspicion in their features or tone. They believed the things their daughter told them, she had never given them a reason to think she was anything but their precious, sensible, straight-laced little Cindy. If they knew the reality of this situation, Mac couldn’t even bear to think about how they would react.

Veronica seemed to have taken it well, as much as anybody could take the news that their best friend who had always seemed so sensible was now pregnant, aged nineteen. Their phone conversation had been brief at best, not because Veronica wouldn’t spend the time, but because Mac said she’d rather explain in person, just as soon as she was given the offer to go stay in Virginia for a while.

Now here they were, sat together on the bed Veronica was calling her own for the Summer. Mac had never expected to be on this side of this particular conversation, but it was unavoidable apparently.

“I have to say I was a little stunned,” said Veronica from the other end of the bed. “I’m gonna assume it’s Max’s baby...” she stopped when her friend looked away as if she were ashamed, and yet she couldn’t find another reasonable explanation for what had happened here. “Mac, I know you pretty well. You’re not the type of person to just sleep with some random guy.” She shook her head. “Oh my God, did someone...?” she began to ask, face registering shock and horror that scared Mac into speaking at last.

“No,” she said immediately, shaking her head. “No, nothing like that, I swear,” she said definitely, allowing Veronica a sigh of relief before she continued. “But y’know you’re wrong about me, Veronica,” Mac said sadly, pushing her hair out of her face and forcing back tears that formed too easily. “I am stupid,” she admitted, feeling terrible all over again, knowing she had to say the words out loud that she’d been hiding all this time from everyone.

“Tell me what happened, Mac,” the blonde urged her, moving closer and putting a hand on her shoulder. “I want to help,” she promised, true as anything she’d ever said to her.

With a sniff and a positive nod of her head, Mac began her explanation of what had happened, how she’d ended up here, pregnant and alone.

“It was the anniversary of when Cassidy...” she began, unable to look at Veronica, knowing as she did just how much her friend had suffered that night too. “I just, I felt so awful and alone and...”

“And you found comfort?” Veronica figured she knew where this story was headed and a guilty pain stabbed at her insides.

She ought to have been there for her friend when she needed her, even by phone from here at the FBI would’ve been something, but Veronica had chosen to hide from the day that caused her pain too. Cassidy caused a lot of trauma, and those he hurt should’ve brought comfort to each other on the anniversary of his death. Instead, Veronica had been miles away, trying to forget whilst Mac suffered alone, at least that’s what she assumed...

“I was drunk, and he made me feel so good,” the tearful girl explained. “I knows it’s all so cliché but it’s true,” she said, as she wiped her face dry with the backs of her hands, only to have fresh tears take their place a moment later.

“Do you know who he is?” asked Veronica, mindful not to make her friend anymore upset but knowing this had to be the next question asked and answered.

Still, Veronica wasn’t sure if the nod of Mac’s head was a good or a bad sign. Some random guy getting her pregnant might be easier in a way, leaving all the decisions to her alone, but Mac might need the support of another, later if not now. All kids should have two parents if they could anyway...

“It’s Dick.”

The thoughts that rattled through Veronica’s mind were cut off abruptly by those two words. Part of her wondered if she’d heard wrong but the look on Mac’s face suggested otherwise as she looked at her.

“Dick Casablancas?!” she gaped, wondering how in the name of all that was holy her smart and sensible best friend had ended up having sex with such an idiot.

“Please don’t, Veronica.” Her friend frowned, hating the way she was being looked at right now. “I know how stupid I was,” she said, trying to keep from crying anymore but finding it near impossible still.

More big fat tears rolled down her cheeks as she sobbed for her own stupidity and what had come out of it. Veronica felt terrible. She knew she shouldn’t judge Mac, after all, she’d made a whole heap of dumb decisions herself, she was just so taken aback by the confession. These were perhaps the last two people in the world she’d ever considered getting it together in any possible way, and now they were going to be parents to the same child.

“Oh, come on, Mac,” she said, putting her arms around her and hugging her tight as she cried on her shoulder. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to be so loud and judgmental,” she apologised. “I just... I guess I’m surprised. Shocked, actually, if I’m honest.”

“I so didn’t plan for this to happen,” said Mac, through sniffles and sobs. “It was... He showed up outside the hotel,” she explained. “We were both upset over Cassidy so we went for a drink, or forty,” she said, putting her hand to her head as she thought about it and realised all over again what a fool she’d been. “I don’t know, Veronica, in a alcohol-haze it seemed like a good idea, a great idea even,” she said, blowing her nose on yet another tissue from the box. “Give Dick his due, the man knows what he’s doing with his hands and-”

“No, please.” That particular part of the explanation was cut off in an instant by Veronica’s stern words and the cutting motion of her hand. “I so don’t need to hear what comes after ‘and’,” she said, hoping she wouldn’t cause offence but knowing she couldn’t handle hearing the intimate details of the liaison between her computer geek friend and the surfer dude.

“Sorry.” The brunette blushed slightly and even almost smiled as she realised just what exactly she was about to tell, becoming serious again in an instant as she went on with her explanation of what had occurred that night and after. “In the morning he was gone. I knew I should be mad at him, but honestly I was glad I didn’t have to face him after... what we did,” she explained. “I barely saw him after that, on purpose actually, then I realised it had been a while since my last period and...” her voice wavered once again as she got to the part that upset her the most.

“And now we know why,” her friend filled in as the poor girl collapsed into tears once again, accepting another hug she desperately needed.

Her family were never going to understand this, Mac knew that for sure, and she couldn’t find a way in her head to tell Dick what had happened. The first person she thought of to run to was Veronica Mars, but even her best friend couldn’t fix the situation this time. Nobody could undo what had been done, not in a way Mac could live with, and now she had to face the consequences of her stupid actions.

“I don’t know how to deal with this, Veronica,” she admitted tearfully. “It was never a plan, I never even considered it, I... I just don’t know where to go from here,” she cried, huge heaving sobs that Veronica knew had to be let out if they were ever going to move forward.

There were a hundred things she could say right now, but none seemed really right and she easily found a reason to not say each and every one. Lost for anything else to do or say, Veronica held her friend close, rubbing her back and bringing as much comfort as she possibly could in such a situation.

“I’m here for you,” she said softly, knowing that she could at least allow Mac to believe in those words. “I promise, I’ll always be here for you.”

* * *

Days passed, quickly or slowly, Mac couldn’t tell. Each one came and went, leaving her as confused as she ever had been in her life. Veronica was an angel, as good as her word and better when it came to being there for her. This past week, of course she had to attend at the FBI but every spare moment she had she was there to talk, to offer hugs, ice-cream, wads of tissue, and her own brands of both sympathy and advice.

Unfortunately, every option laid out before her fast became a no go for Mac and the baby growing inside her.

Abortion was impossible. She wouldn’t have an animal be killed for the sake of her eating it, she certainly couldn’t let a human life be wiped out like it never existed. Besides, no matter how much this baby was a part of Dick it was also a part of her. Whatever else happened, she and this unborn child were connected both literally and figuratively, and she was not going to pretend otherwise.

Adoption was the next suggestion that Veronica came up with and Mac could see the merits, but it was too easily quashed when the memory of finding out her real parents were strangers to her hit home with a vengeance. She couldn’t do that to a baby, have them get to his or her teenage years and discover he or she wasn’t who they always thought. Besides, it would mean living in the world knowing there was a kid out there that ought to be with her, and yet had no idea she existed. Mac couldn’t stand it.

That left only one road to take, having this baby and raising it herself, most likely alone since she couldn’t imagine for one second that Dick was going to want to help. As for her parents, well, there was a chance that in time they would come to understand that their daughter was still a decent person who deserved their love and support, though Mac couldn’t imagine it was going to come easy to them somehow.

Putting a hand to her head, Mac closed her eyes and wished the world away. Her brain ached from all the thinking, over and over the same things that got no more solved no matter how long she thought on them. Unfortunately, one part of this whole debacle had to be dealt with and that couldn’t happen here in Virginia. She could make the decision to keep her baby, she could plan ways to help her parents understand her situation and be cool with it eventually. The unknown variable still existed, and his name was Dick Casablancas.

Veronica kept dropping him into conversation in what Mac guessed her friend thought was a subtle way. He needed to be told, they both agreed on that, it was the right thing to do for everybody’s sake. The trouble was, Mac just couldn’t imagine the conversation and the more she tried to, the more sick she felt. She and Dick had avoided each other quite deliberately since their single night of passion a little over a month ago. They passed by each other in the street, caught sight of each other across the grocery store, and barely acknowledged the fact each other existed. Such they might have always continued, if not for baby making three.

“First I have to come to terms with the baby thing,” Mac decided right there and then. “Then I’ll deal with the Dick thing,” she told herself softly, one hand still at her head, the other having gone absently to her stomach which as yet showed no signs of growth so early on in her pregnancy.

A few more days was all she needed, then things would be better. She’d be ready to head back home to Neptune, face her folks, face Dick. This is what she tried to tell herself, but it wasn’t necessarily true.


	3. Chapter 3

This was a stupid idea, so Mac told herself as she rode the elevator up to the suite in the Neptune Grand where Dick and Logan lived. Of course, this particular stupid idea wouldn’t ever have entered her head if not for a previous event that was even farther from her finest hour. They said if you made your bed you had to lie in it. For Mac, missing the bed entirely and sleeping with Dick now meant she had to deal with the consequences as best she could, the main one being that she now had to tell the blond surfer jerk that he was going to be a father.

It thrilled Mac not at all to be here, either in the building or facing this particular set of circumstances, but now wasn’t the time to bolt and cry like a child. She was a grown woman, and she had to start behaving like one if she was going to be a mother. She hadn’t exactly got used to the idea yet, though she was trying her best. Veronica had been a great support but at the end of the day, it was Mac herself that had to face the truth, as well as face Dick.

A million scenarios had run through her head since she realised she really must tell the father of her child about his new role in life. Maybe he wouldn’t even believe her. Maybe he would but would be mad about it. He might offer her cash for an abortion, which of course she would never take. Then there was the ‘no chance’ list that almost made Mac laugh. The idea that Dick would behave like a decent human being and offer to support her in this, marry her even. Yeah, those were just too way out there for words.

Now stood outside the door to the suite, Mac felt every ounce of humour drain from her body, every trace of a smile fall clean off her face. This couldn’t go well, for either of them, it just couldn’t. She and Dick had been indifferent to each other for the longest time, bickered some when she was dating Cassidy, and grieved entirely separately when he was gone. Dick had said some vile things to her in his grief, though she never really blamed him for those. It was easier to project your guilt onto others than deal with it yourself in times of crisis, she knew that, and in the end he had realised what he’d done wrong and sincerely apologised to her... even if he had tried to make a move on her right after.

‘We certainly made some moves after that,’ Mac thought to herself, even now a blush rising in her cheeks just from the hazy memories, as she raised a fist to the door and knocked.

Seconds later, Dick appeared in front of her, apparently startled by her presence. Mac couldn’t blame him for that. After actively avoiding each other these past two months, she was probably the last person he expected to find on his doorstep.

“Hi,” she said awkwardly when he didn’t speak, just stared at her like maybe she was an alien from another planet.

“Hey,” he replied, shifting uncomfortably under her gaze and yet trying to look cool and calm like he didn’t care she was here or didn’t remember what went before.

“Er, is Logan here?” asked Mac, trying to peer into the room but Dick had already started closing the door on her apparently.

“Nope, sorry,” he said, almost getting the door completely shut, but Mac had seen the manoeuvre coming and shoved her foot in the way.

Since Dick wasn’t smart enough to actually shut the door, just swing it to a close and turn to walk away, he got a surprise when it came open again and Mac took her chance to barge in.

“I was just checking we were alone,” she explained why she was asking about Logan in the first place as she walked by him and further into the room.

“Why?” The blond looked suitably puzzled as he so often did, looking to the door (which require a further push to close it properly) and then over at Mac who was hovering around between the seating area and his bedroom door like she wasn’t sure which way to go. “Oh, hey, babe, if you’re looking for an encore.” He grinned, thinking maybe now he understood. “That was a one time only deal-”

“One time was all it took,” she snapped, a little disgusted that he was actually suggesting what he was suggesting, but also just desperate to get this over with before her nerve went.

“Huh?” the look on Dick’s face said it all he stared at her a moment, before a grin spread over his face that Mac really hadn’t been expecting at all. “Oh, seriously, like if you’re in love with me or whatever, I get it,” he told her, what sounded like a sympathy in his tone as he put his hands to her shoulder. “I know I probably rocked your world or whatever, but-”

“I’m pregnant,” blurted out Mac, almost unable to believe where he was going with this and certainly not wanting to hear it.

This was it, the words had been said, the truth told. Unfortunately, Dick looked no further forward than he had been when Mac walked in, his face as blank as ever.

“What?” he said, apparently startled as he swiftly removed his hands from her shoulders like he was being burnt.

There was no possible way he hadn’t heard what she said or was really so dumb he didn’t understand what the words meant. Still, apparently it hadn’t sunk in yet.

“I’m pregnant,” she repeated. “Y’know ‘like, totally having a baby, dude!’” she said in words he might use himself as he turned away from her.

It was a lot to take in and Mac could at least sympathise with the shock he must be feeling. This was the last thing either of them had expected to happen, right up there on that same list as the two of them sleeping together. Of course, her sympathy for him only stretched so far, and evaporated entirely when he turned back to her with a firm look and spoke at last.

“It’s not mine,” he told her, at which her eyes went appropriately wide.

“Dick, if you’ve learned nothing else about me these past couple of years, you do know I don’t just sleep with random guys,” she reminded him, not at all impressed by his attitude right now.

“You slept with me.” He shrugged, sticking to his guns apparently. “That was pretty random.”

He knew he’d got Mac there, she couldn’t argue with what he’d said. Of course, Dick wasn’t as dumb as he seemed and he also knew it was entirely likely that she was telling the truth. He knew a lot of girls, a lot of really nice but really slutty chicks who wouldn’t be able to pick their baby daddy out of a line-up. Mac was different, and he did believe her when she said she was having his kid. Unfortunately, he hadn’t the good sense to realise it would be easier just to admit to what they’d done and face the consequences. He’d learnt long ago to try and worm his way out of just about anything he could. Of course, he’d never thrown down in this kind of fight with a girl like Mac before.

“That was different,” she reminded him, shifting awkwardly as he did the same, neither really wanting to look at each other right now. “And it was the only time I ever did anything like that,” she said, trying to meet his eyes now in some of proof that she was telling him the truth, but he just turned away again. “Come on, Dick, you know I’m not lying,” she implored him, but he just pulled out one hand from his pockets where he’d shove them and pointed an accusatory finger her way.

“Don’t you have like a geeky boyfriend guy or something?” he challenged her to argue the point, and that was exactly what she did.

“Max and I broke up, a couple of weeks before...” she trailed off when she realised actually mentioning their night together could only lead to no good here, so she cleared her throat and started over. “Not that it’s any of your business but you’re the only person I was with without... protection,” she stumbled a little on the end of her sentence but at least when her gaze caught Dick’s own then she did feel like he had been listening and even maybe believing what she was telling him.

Unfortunately, his reaction when he was taking in what she was saying was no less pleasant than when he refused to believe her.

“So, now you want money?” he guessed, not really understanding why Mac was staring at him like she was as dumb as he himself was usually accused of being. “For the operation, procedure, whatever.” He waved his hand in a random gesture.

Mac just continued to gape at him, making Dick wonder what was wrong. Surely she had to understand what he was saying here, it wasn’t complicated, and he had to think it was exactly what she was here for.

“You want me to pay to make this go away?” he tried again in the simplest possible terms he could find in his head, but apparently that was wrong too.

“Nobody is getting rid of this baby!” Mac snapped at him, so suddenly and with such force that Dick visibly flinched, backing up a step in surprise.

Honestly, Mac had stunned herself with the force with which she’d spoken, but she meant every word. It disgusted her that Dick could be so callous about their child, about any child. Of course it should have occurred to her that he was in shock right now as much as she had been the day she discovered she was pregnant, but it didn’t. In this moment, all she knew was frustration and anger at this idiot who had played a major part in screwing up her future. Tears welled in her eyes, making Mac as angry at herself as at Dick for letting him get to her. She couldn’t take anymore right now.

“Y’know, if you don’t want to believe it’s your baby, that’s fine,” she said at last, needing to get out before she lost control. “Be an idiot Dick, it’s what you’re good at, but I know this is my child and I’m going to do my best for him or her,” she said firmly, pushing past Dick to get to the door.

He was stunned by her attitude; Cindy Mackenzie had never so much as raised her voice in front of him before. To hear her yell like that, to be so mad at him, it was weird. This coupled with what she had told him, that she was having a baby and that he was the father, it was all to much to take in.

“Mac?” he said so suddenly, it made her jump a little, her shaking hands stopping just short of the latch on the door as she turned back just enough to see his awkwardly sad expression. “I’m sorry?” he offered words he thought she hoped to hear.

“It’s a little late for that,” was all the response she could give him as she let herself out of the suite at last, the door closing behind her with a thud.

Out in the hallway alone, Mac leaned her back against the door and let the tears that had been welling in her eyes finally fall. She hated that her emotions were so screwed up right now, but apparently that was what pregnancy did for a person. Usually she didn’t yell or cry or anything like her behaviour so far today. She got angry and upset at times, of course she did, but she kept her feelings and emotions in check so much better when she wasn’t carrying a child inside her.

Mac’s hand went to her stomach that as yet showed no sign of growth. Six weeks wasn’t long enough to make a difference to her figure yet, but she felt different. Even without a test or doctor to confirm it, she’d known before that she was pregnant. Now Dick knew too, and though she’d hardly expected a positive reaction, he had still manage to shock her with his words.

Inside the hotel room, the blond in question was much closer than Mac might have imagined. Dick had been in two minds whether to follow her when she stormed out, and now stood on the other side of the door, leaning with his hand near the latch and yet not moving.

This wasn’t the first time he got a girl pregnant. He’d had a couple of scares before, once with Madison and another time with a girl who’s name was hazy in his mind. The only time there was ever an actual pregnant woman before was with Bonnie Capistrano, and then there was only a fifty-fifty chance, maybe less, that he was the Dad. It had been a relief, however bad that sounded, when the baby was lost.

Now here was Mac, telling him he was going to be a father for real this time. He believed he was the only guy she’d been with, and that she would keep this kid and raise it any way she could. How he was going to deal, Dick had no clue, but right now he had an idea involving a lot of booze and loud music in an attempt to drown all this crap out of his head. It probably wouldn’t help, but it was all he could think to do in the circumstances.


	4. Chapter 4

Veronica was fuming with anger as she stormed into the Neptune Grand like a woman on a mission. She could not be more mad if it was she herself who had been every kind of screwed-over by an undeserving man. Mac had called her just the day before, bawling her heart out and explaining between sobs what a complete jackass Dick had been when she told him what had come out of their one and only night together.

It was what they’d both expected and yet Veronica couldn’t stand the idea of her friend being treated so badly by Dick. She had little in the way of family herself, just her Dad these days, and her friends had become the rest of what she needed - brothers in Wallace and Weevil, a sister in Mac. They stood up for her and Veronica would be damned if she wasn’t going to do the same right now. She made excuses about a sick relative to the FBI, caught the next flight out, and headed straight to the hotel without even stopping by her home or Mac’s place.

Rapping on the door, she barged in just the second it was opened, without a thought for whether it was Dick or Logan, or anyone else on the other side. Veronica was just a little relieved to find it was the guy she’d come to see and was mindful to shove him into his own room before she began yelling at him.

“Hey, easy, Mars!” he told her as she slammed the door closed behind them. “I like it rough as the next guy.” He smirked suggestively then. “But you gotta-”

“Do not even try that with me, Dick,” she warned him, pointing a stern finger his way. “You make one disgusting comment and I swear to God I’ll make sure you have none of the equipment you need to ever get another girl in the condition you’ve put Mac in!” she told him, his face dropping immediately at the sound of those words.

“Oh,” he said, eyes going to the floor. “She told you,” he added pointlessly, pushing his hair back out of his face for something else to do.

“Yes, she told me,” Veronica confirmed, expecting him to say more, but when he didn’t she prompted him to do so. “What are you going to do about this?”

“I don’t know.” Dick shrugged, dropping down to sit on the edge of his bed.

“Inspirational answer, Spicoli!” Veronica practically exploded. “Did your surfboard hit you on the head this morning?”

“Dude, what do you want from me?” he asked, with as emphatic arm gestures as she was using right now.

“For once in your life, I want you to man up, Dick!” the little blonde told him, getting in his face which he had inadvertently made easier for her when he took a seat. “This is not some random girl you picked up at the beach,” she reminded him, her voice dropping to a more reasonable level as she tried to make him see the seriousness of this that she risked losing in amongst a shouting contest. “This is Mac. You remember Mac? Dated your brother? Was hurt as much by his death as you-”

“Don’t talk about that!” Dick was on his feet in a second at the very mention of Cassidy and what had become of him. “You don’t know anything!” he yelled, as Veronica subconsciously backed up a step.

Still, she wasn’t so intimidated as to run away scared. She came to say her piece for Mac’s sake and that was what she was going to do, whether Dick liked it or not. He had to see he had a responsibility here, he just had to.

“I know that you and Mac made a mistake,” she told him, “though I personally think hers was bigger than yours,” she couldn’t resist the dig in amongst the serious words she needed to get out, “but you have to be an adult about this, Dick.”

“Like you have any right to talk about being an adult.” He shook his head, not willing to stand here in his own room and take such a dressing down from a girl that had plenty of her own problems. “Check yourself, Mars,” he snapped at her. “I know it was pretty scuzzy what Logan did, sleeping with Madison and all, but you dating Piznarski to get back at him?” he challenged her. “That was low.”

“I did not-” Veronica immediately started to argue, indignation in her tone and features both, but Dick wouldn’t hear a word.

“Yeah, you did,” he insisted. “You and Logan do the whole star-crossed Romeo and Juliet crap too well, man, and it’s getting old!” he told her crossly, damned if he was going to let her have the moral high ground in all this. “You used Piz to get over Logan,” he told her definitely. “Hell, when it started out you used him to get over Duncan, and don’t even tell me I’m wrong,” he threw in fast the moment he saw her lips twitch to argue. “I know I act dumb sometimes, but I’m not blind,” he assurred her, his rant apparently over as he retook his seat on the edge of the bed and looked up at her. “We’re all users, Ronnie, even you.”

Veronica had a hundred things in her head she wanted to say and yet not a single one seemed appropriate. She hated to admit it, but on some levels at least, Dick was right. Everyone used other people sometimes, it was just the way things worked. It was almost impossible to be the kind of saint who never once did anything for their own gain at the risk of hurting someone else. She wasn’t exempt, she knew that, but it didn’t make any real difference. She was flawed, hell, wasn’t everybody? The fact remained that Dick had responsibilities he needed to take care of, and she was not going to let him wriggle out of that, no matter what.

“Maybe that’s true, maybe,” she admitted, “but it doesn’t change the fact that you need to be responsible right now,” she reminded him. “Mac is in pieces over this, she doesn’t know what she’s going to do.”

“And you think I do?” scoffed Dick, though there was no humour in his tone as he chuckled. “You think I planned for this to happen? God, why are you even here, this has nothing to do with you,” he said, as if he’d only just now realised it.

On his feet again by now, Dick put his hands to Veronica’s shoulders and turned her around. He opened up the door and practically shoved her out.

“Hey!” she complained, though she went semi-willingly, given how pointless her visit here was already turning out to be.

“Figure out your own screwed up relationships, Mars,” Dick advised her, before she could say anymore, “and let me deal with mine my own way,” he said firmly, slamming the door in her face even as she opened her mouth to argue some more.

Veronica considered slamming on the door, demanding to be let back in, but there was little or no point and she knew it. Mad as she was at Dick, he was right when he implied this was all really none of her business. The trouble was Mac was in no fit state to have this out with him. With emotions and hormones flying around, she’d cried more in the past few days than she had her whole life before from what she told Veronica. It seemed she may have inadvertently made this situation even worse and given Mac one more thing to sob over.

“Yeah, that went well,” she said to herself, sarcasm evident as she turned away from the closed door.

“You do have a way with people, Mars,” said a voice and she suddenly realised that Dick had never actually been alone here.

“Logan.” She found a vague smile coming to her lips as she looked across at him, framed in his own bedroom doorway.

For the longest moment neither moved or spoke. It was weeks since they’d seen each other, and on some levels that felt like a lifetime, in others barely a moment. She hadn’t said goodbye before she left for her internship, though she hadn’t been half so mad at him as last they stood here in this suite, her yelling about their friendship being over forever. He just had to come seek her out in the food court and apologise some more, proving his stupidity and his worth as a friend all at the same time as he beat Gory Sorokin to the ground in spite of the other guy’s connections.

Veronica recalled a moment similar to this when her eyes met Logan’s own and they shared a smile. It was the last time she’d seen him before she left, and now here they were again. Shaking herself free of too many memories, she was about to leave when Logan spoke.

“So, kinda hard not to overhear,” he gestured towards his friend’s room as he crossed to the couch and sat down. “Dick and Mac, huh? Who woulda thought?” He shrugged, the bigger question in his eyes now, almost daring her to sit with him.

“Definitely not me.” She shook her head, the movement matching her verbal answer, but also making him see she wasn’t staying as she very deliberately moved around towards the door.

“She okay?” Logan called behind her, not Mac’s best friend or even close, but a decent enough human being at least to care if she was coping. “I know she must be stressed out and everything but-”

“She’ll survive,” replied Veronica with a nod and a genuine smile at his thoughtfulness at least. “We all have to find a way to do that, no matter what happens,” she said, serious again in a second as she turned to the door and reached for the latch to make her escape that was already overdue.

“Veronica,” said Logan somewhere behind her and she hoped she was right that he was still on the couch and not close enough to touch her.

“What?” she asked as she glanced back over her shoulder to see him a distance away still, albeit on his feet now.

“It’s... It was good to see you,” he said with a smile, hands in his pockets as he seemed awkward even saying those few words.

Veronica could have replied back in kind but honestly the words wouldn’t come. She hadn’t allowed herself to think too much about how she would deal if she came face to face with Logan today. It was a high possibility but her mind had been so focused on helping Mac figure things out with Dick, she really hadn’t entirely processed how she would cope with seeing her ex again. She managed only a smile in his general direction before she was gone.

Logan watched her go and sighed. Well, it was an improvement because she hadn’t torn him a new one just for existing. Honestly, he couldn’t let himself dwell too much on his situation with Veronica. Apparently his best friend needed him right now, and he had to be there. After all, nobody else was going to help. 

Knocking on the bedroom door across the way, Logan barely flinched as Dick yelled at Veronica to go away again before realising his mistake when he turned around sharply.

“I swear to God, Ronnie... Oh, hey,” he tried to force a smile but it came out wrong somehow.

“Hey, man,” said Logan as he walked around and parked himself on the edge of the desk across from where Dick sat on his bed with his head in his hands again now. “So, you and Mac?” he checked. “How’d that happen?”

“I don’t know, dude.” Dick shook his head, pushing his hair out of his face with one hand as he looked up at his buddy. “I think there was dancing, I know there was tequila.” He sighed. “It wasn’t supposed to happen. I mean, Mac is hot, obviously, but... I don’t know.” He shrugged, apparently completely at a loss. “I just felt like she got it, y’know? She totally got how I was feelin’ that night... one year since he jumped,” he finished even quieter than he’d begun and Logan visibly flinched as he was forced to recall the night when Cassidy Casablancas had thrown himself from the roof of this very hotel, he and Veronica forced to watch the end as it came.

Now wasn’t the time to dwell on that either though, as Dick looked close to tears. He was feeling bad about so much lately, all kinds of nasty tricks he’d played on his brother and all. Just when he was slowly beginning to deal, this came flying in from nowhere and brought his world crashing down around his ears a second time.

“Part of me feels worse now,” he explained too quietly for Dick’s usual voice, “like I betrayed his memory by being with the only girl he ever...” He made some random gesture with his hand before running the same hand over his face and sighing. “Then I think, why not?” He shrugged. “’Cause he didn’t really want her anyway, not really, right?”

Dick looked to Logan as if for confirmation, but honestly his friend didn’t know how to give it either way. 

“Don’t beat yourself up, Dick,” he advised. “It doesn’t help, okay? Take it from a guy who knows,” he told him sagely, feeling just a little odd being the guy to figure out the mess for somebody else for a change. “Y’know, right now, I’m thinking you should really talk to Mac,” he suggested, moving to come sit next to Dick, putting a comforting hand on his shoulder.

“And say what?” the blond scoffed. “Sorry I got you knocked up?”

“Might be a start,” considered Logan with a half a smile as he got back onto his feet with plans to leave Dick alone to his solitary contemplation.

There was only so much advice he could give, a limit to the amount of positive points he would be able to find in such a situation. It seemed more sensible right now to leave Dick be and wait til he actually wanted to talk.

“Wanna hear the dumbest thing?” he said from his place sat on the bed still, craning his neck to see Logan who was already half way out the door. “Mostly, I’m not sorry, I mean, it sucks she got pregnant, but that night, man, I’ll admit its kinda fuzzy but woah, that was one hot and heavy encounter,” he said with a knowing look.

Logan couldn’t hide the smirk that came to his lips.

“Yeah.” He nodded. “Maybe don’t mention that when you go talk to Mac,” he said, his one last piece of advice before he left, closing the door behind him.


	5. Chapter 5

This was maybe the last place Dick Casablancas wanted to be. Over on the non-rich side of town, standing on the doorstep to a house he’d never seen before and had located with the help of Logan and modern technology. Inside this house was the girl he had slept with just once, over a month ago, and who was now pregnant with his child. Dick had wrongly assumed that any woman who was unfortunate enough to get knocked up after an encounter with him would go away if enough money was thrown her way, but then the kind of girls he usually went with were not exactly full of morals.

Taking a deep breath and wondering how he could feel so nervous when usually being around women only made him more confident, Dick raised his fist and knocked on the door. When no-one came to answer immediately, he genuinely considered bolting, but just as he’d made the decision to turn away, somebody answered.

“Hi there.” The woman smiled, obviously Mac’s mom, though she really didn’t look anything like her daughter as far as Dick was concerned. “Um, is Mac... Is Cindy home?” he asked, stumbling over the usual name before landing on the one he really ought to be using right now.

“Sure, come on in,” said Mrs Mackenzie with a genuine smile, though honestly she was a little bemused.

Cindy really didn’t have a whole lot of friends, and only one was male that she knew of. Wallace was a nice boy but as her daughter had pointed out several times, friends was really all they were, nothing more and nothing less. Now here was a rather attractive blond on her doorstep and Mrs Mackenzie was a little lost.

“Ryan, honey,” she said, practically tripping over her son on her way to the living room with Dick in tow, “please go tell your sister she has a visitor.”

Mrs Mackenzie shifted awkwardly then, not even sure of this boy’s name nevermind why he might be here. Dick didn’t notice, his eyes were scanning the living room he was now stood in, the simple furnishings of a smaller house than he would ever live in. Pictures sat on the mantle and hung on the walls, showing Mac as well as her brother through the years. It seemed her parents really cared enough to want to track every minute on her life - Dick was almost jealous.

“What are you doing here?” asked Mac as she appeared, making her visitor spin around fast to face her.

“Uh... I think we kinda need to talk,” he told her, his eyes flitting to her Mom and back as he pushed his fringe out of his eyes.

Thought he was hardly known for being full of tact and diplomacy, it had clearly occurred to Dick that maybe Mac’s parents didn’t yet know about her pregnancy. Besides, to save his own hide, he’d rather they didn’t know just yet that he was the jackass that had knocked-up their straight-laced, straight-A daughter.

“Fine.” Mac nodded once. “We’ll go talk in my room,” she said, sure that was a mistake, but also not willing to have this conversation in front of her mother.

As it turned out it didn’t matter because just as soon as Mac turned back towards her room and Dick followed behind her, hands in pockets, Mrs Mackenzie offered the chance of drinks and snacks to ‘the kids’. Though the visitor opened his mouth to speak, he was not given a chance to actually say anything. Cindy cut in, thanking her Mom for the offer but declining it, saying that Dick wouldn’t be staying long, regardless of the fact she didn’t know yet exactly what he was here for.

The awkwardness hit Mac and Dick like a ton of bricks as they went into her bedroom together. Of course this wasn’t where their encounter had taken place, but it was a stark reminder of that night - the two of them alone in a bedroom. The damage had already been done by now of course, but that didn’t matter. They both felt the blush rising in their cheeks as they kept their eyes on anything but each other.

“So, uh... I figured I should come over,” said Dick, shifting from foot to foot, running a finger along the edge of the desk behind him just because he could. “Tell you I’m sorry, y’know?” He shrugged.

Mac glanced over at him as she dropped down onto the edge of the bed, hugging her arms around her body. She didn’t actually think she could be any more uncomfortable right now if she tried.

“You already said that,” she pointed out, “but... thanks,” she added, realising that if he was going to be decent enough to come over and at least seem genuine in his apology to her, she ought to accept it graciously, even if it didn’t change anything or make it better.

“I guess your parents don’t know about...?” he asked then, making some odd gestures around his stomach as he flopped into the desk chair in the hopes of feeling a little less out of place here - it didn’t help.

“No, I didn’t tell them yet,” admitted Mac, arms parting and hands going together in her lap, fingers lacing and unlacing like a nervous habit. “I just... I can’t find a good way to do it.”

“I guess it would’ve been easier if this had happened with Beav,” the moment the words were out of Dick’s mouth he knew they were the wrong ones, but it was all too late.

He looked up at the same moment Mac did, and saw cold steel flash in eyes that could be so warm and kind to others. A genuine feeling of regret and a whole lot of nausea hit him as he started to wonder if he was about to get tossed out on his finely-toned ass. Thankfully, Mac stood up sharply but didn’t seem to want to throw him out, though she all but yelled when she did finally speak again.

“Why are you here, Dick?” she asked him plainly. “You’ve said you’re sorry and I believe you, what else did you want?”

“Dude, like I’m supposed to know how to make this better,” he said, getting to his feet too, if only to stop her having the height advantage as well as the moral high-ground. “I just thought we should talk about stuff,” he repeated his earlier words, but Mac only shook her head.

“Talking won’t undo what we did,” she told him, immediately wishing she hadn’t brought it up as Dick’s eyes bored two holes into her body.

He wasn’t thinking about the consequences anymore, only the actions that came before. Their night together had been unreal, and though Mac’s memory of it was fuzzy at best, she did know that nobody had ever made her feel quite the way she had that night with Dick.

“That was one crazy night,” he said with a smirk he couldn’t help as he looked at Mac, and she swore he must have just read the thoughts clean out of her head.

Turning away to the window, she tried to think of anything else to say to him, simultaneously fighting the blush that rose in her cheeks one more time. She hated that she could get embarrassed so easy, but it was something she never had been able to control very well.

“Y’know, if this happened to Logan and Ronnie they’d handle it easy,” said Dick somewhere behind her, though Mac daren’t turn around and look at him, even when she replied.

“Usually I handle stuff pretty well myself.” She sighed. “But this... this is kinda huge.”

“Yeah.” He nodded, though of course she didn’t see. “I handle everything with beer, which seems like it helps, but in the morning, everything’s still just as screwed up.”

Mac would have liked to have snapped at him for being so thoughtless, for calling their baby a screw up, but then she had thought something similar herself more than once. She’d felt guilty about it, but she just couldn’t help herself. The last thing she needed in her life right now was a child, but choices were limited in all directions at this point.

“I really don’t have the choice of drinking my problems away right now,” she said with a small smile, since it would hardly be her first thought anyway. “Not in ‘my condition’,” she said with a roll of her eyes, like the whole thing was just lame.

Dick nodded as she turned to look at him again then, feeling a little less bashful for the moment. It was crazy to think they had been as close as two people could physically be once and yet now standing a few feet apart across a room felt so awkward and strange.

They had never been friends, even when she was dating Cassidy and spent a lot of time at the Casablancas house, Dick really only deigned to speak to Mac when he had to. He liked to tease Beaver for being younger, skinnier, more shy than he himself was. He also made fun of Mac for being relatively pale, for dating a guy like Cassidy, and for being so into things he considered geeky. She paid him no mind then, and learnt to put up with him as a friend of a friend after, since he was always where Logan was and when he and Veronica were dating, the group of them often ended up at the same parties and gatherings. She really hadn’t thought much about him at all in a good long while; now she didn’t have a choice.

“Uh, you saw a doctor right?” asked Dick so suddenly that Mac actually jumped a little.

“Nope.” She shook her head as she said it, shifting from foot to foot as she went on to explain. “I only have my family’s doctor and, I know there are all these privacy rules and stuff, but I can’t risk him telling my parents, I just can’t do that,” she said definitely, making a cutting motion with both her hands as if to emphasise the point.

“It’s cool.” He shrugged, hands shoved in his pockets as he continued to look as nervously awkward as she felt in all of this. “I can totally pay for a private doc.”

“No,” she snapped immediately, regretting her harshness in a second as he looked up at her sadly. “Thank you, but no,” she amended. “I told you before, I didn’t come see you about cash.”

“I know, I get that,” Dick assured her, “but I wanna help,” he said, suprising her so much that Mac actually sat down on the edge of the bed again whether she wanted to to not. “Y’know, it’s my responsibility too, at least that’s what Ronnie said.” He shrugged one more time, the movement starting to look like a nervous tic, he’d done it so many times in the past few minutes.

“Oh God!” Mac’s face was in her hands by now as she groaned. “I told Veronica I didn’t want her to do that,” she lamented, knowing her friend was only trying to help, but also a little mad and equally mortified that she would go behind her back and fight her battles for her when she’d expressly asked her not to.

“She’s just looking out for her bud,” said Dick, the bed shifting a little to Mac’s left as he sat down beside her and patted her on the back like he wasn’t sure if he was doing it right. “Y’know, like I would for Logan or whatever.”

He was trying to be comforting apparently, maybe because he thought Mac was really upset, perhaps even crying. Truth was she was only getting more embarrassed by the second, that was all.

“I guess you’re right,” she said, with a half-smile that she hoped would make him feel like less of an ass.

Dick was trying his best, which still wasn’t really as helpful as she would’ve liked but it was something. He seemed to suddenly notice how close they’d gotten when she brought her head up and their eyes locked. There was the very obvious fact they were sat on a bed too, and that soon had him backing off some, realising that up on his feet and out of the room was a better way for him to go right now, before anything else really crazy happened here.

“So, I should go and book you that doctor’s appointment,” he said as he made his way over to the door.

“Thanks,” replied Mac as she rose and followed him, just a step behind Dick when he suddenly turned around and faced her again.

“You want me to...?” he began, running a hand through his hair and looking everywhere but at her right now. “You want me to be there, or...?”

“Oh,” she replied with genuine surprise to his offer, but only had to weigh it up for a few seconds before she’d made a firm decision. “Well, if you want to, sure.”

Dick muttered something about letting her know about the appointment and was gone even more suddenly than he had arrived, leaving Mac feeling strangely overwhelmed. She really hadn’t expected him to come over to her house and certainly not to talk like a grown up about what had happened. Honestly, she’d truly believed that unless she made the effort to go over to the Grand, she just wouldn’t see him again. She’d figured on him denying the child she carried was his and just behaving like the ass he usually was in the hopes all his troubles would just fly away, as so often happened with rich boys like him.

Instead, she had her one night stand turned father of her unborn child showing up at her home, offering her apologies, comfort, private doctors appointments, and support in her time of need. Mac blinked hard as she rolled the ideas around in her mind a moment.

“Dick Casablancas can be a decent human being,” she said softly to herself, unable to help the baffled but almost happy smile that came to her lips then. “Who knew?”


	6. Chapter 6

Mac was sure that hgh school ought to have furnished her with the most embarrassing and/or awkward moments of her entire life. Apparently she was wrong.

Ever since she and Dick had ‘done the deed’ that fateful drunken night, she had been experiencing whole new levels of both embarrassment and awkwardness, and none so horrifying as this particular moment. Here she was, sat in the waiting room of a fancy doctor that probably charged more per hour than her Dad made in a week, sat beside Dick who was in fact the father of the baby she carried. They were here to confirm her pregnancy, how far along she was, and such. Of course, Mac was ninety-nine point nine percent certain she already knew the answers to both those questions, but Dick had been right when he said that they did need a doctor’s opinion.

Dick Casablancas wasn’t entirely stupid, just mostly, Mac had surmised, though she did feel a little bad for assuming that somebody (probably Logan or maybe Veronica) had told Dick she needed to see a doctor to confirm a pregnancy. Either way, here they were waiting together, just two days after he had promised to make her an appointment, all thanks to a cancellation.

“So...” she said for lack of anything else to say, having counted her own teeth four times and the ceiling tiles twice, and feeling stupid just sitting in silence doing nothing.

“Big day,” replied Dick, the fourth time so far since he picked her up and brought her here just a few minutes ago.

“Yep.” Mac nodded her agreement, moving to push her hair back off her face.

“Woah, you’re shaking,” he noticed, reaching for the hand nearest to him and presenting it to her, as if she needed to be shown she was having a nervous reaction to being here.

“This is kind of new for me Dick,” she reminded him. “The whole doctor’s appointment about a pregnancy thing and the whole expensive doctor thing,” she pointed out, pulling her hand from his grasp as quick as possible, even though it had almost felt nice to have it held for even that brief moment.

“It’s cool,” he assured her. “Dr Devlin is cool. I’ve been coming here since, like, forever,” he explained, his lack of any proper grammar making Mac smile if nothing else.

She had kind of hoped she might be able to bring Veronica along to her doctor’s appointment instead of Dick, but as the blonde had quite rightly pointed out, he was the father and deserved to know what was going on. Besides this Dr Devlin was his physician in the first place, and if Dick was willing to be a man, they had to let him try.

Mac was at least grateful her best friend had been able to hang around long enough to hear the results from this meeting with the doctor. She really should have headed back to her FBI internship yesterday, but had cited a family emergency and hung on for one more day. As it was she was pretty much going to have to leave just as soon as she’d seen Mac and Dick and heard whatever news came out of this appointment.

“I don’t want you to get into trouble with the FBI,” she had told Veronica in earnest, despite how grateful she was to have her around.

“Hey, it’s not a problem, besides, I told them the truth,” the blonde protested. “I said family emergency, and you are family.” She smiled, prompting Mac to burst into tears all over her friend.

She blamed her ‘pregnant lady hormones’ after all, she really wasn’t much for the crying in the natural order of things.

“Miss Mackenzie?” said the young woman behind the reception desk suddenly, startling Mac out of her thoughtful reverie. “The doctor will see you now.” She smiled warmly, though Mac still swallowed hard and took a deep breath, looking more like she was headed for the gallows than a doctor’s office when she stood up.

“Right behind you, babe,” Dick assured her, and as dumb as it sounded even in her own head, Mac was pretty sure that was one of the sweetest things she’d ever heard in her whole life!

* * *

When the suite door opened to reveal Logan, Veronica started to wonder if the universe was playing some sort of cruel trick on her. It wasn’t as if she had to be awkward and embarrassed around him, they’d been friends for so long and had been broken up from their more serious relationship status for months now. He had a new girlfriend, for a while, and she still had her new boyfriend. Both she and Logan ought to be grown up enough to get along without any problems, but somehow coming face to face continued to leave them both reeling and dumbstruck.

“Hi,” she said awkwardly, and he responded in kind. “I came to see Mac, she said she’d be coming back here after the doctors appointment and-”

“They’re still there,” he explained, “but you can come in and wait,” he offered, opening the door wider and moving aside so she could get in.

Taking a deep breath as if she needed all the strength she could muster, Veronica walked in through the door and headed straight for the couch.

“Sit down,” said Logan after the event, sarcasm evident as he pushed the door to a close and missed Veronica rolling her eyes at his humour attempt. “I thought you’d be back to your kick-ass FBI place by now,” he said, coming to join her, albeit at the opposite end of the couch.

“My flight leaves in... a little over five hours,” she said as she checked her watch. “I can hang on just long enough to hear about Mac’s appointment, and then I’m gone,” she explained.

Logan nodded his understanding, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees as he glanced around, as if looking for someone else to talk to in the empty room. He didn’t want to feel awkward with Veronica, not after all this time, but things had been so up in the air since before she ever left for her internship. At this point, neither of them really knew where they stood or how best to ask. So they sat in awkward silence for a while, praying Dick and Mac got back there fast, before they both went crazy.

* * *

It had been ten long minutes that felt like hours, as Logan and Veronica sat in silence that was anything but comfortable. Both had a hundred things to say and yet none seemed right or reasonable. Things tended to be to one extreme or the other with these two, they were either lovers or enemies and the in-between hadn’t come easy, not since Lilly. If she were here now, she’d bang both their heads together, that was for sure, but she wasn’t and therefore it was up to Veronica and Logan alone to deal with their strange situation.

“So,” said Logan at length, “how’s Piz?” he asked, and Veronica honestly couldn’t tell if he was being genuine or not as she glanced back at him - he was almost as good at hiding behind masks as she was sometimes.

Veronica opened her mouth to answer but closed it again abruptly. She could lie, but there really wasn’t any reason too. Point scoring never got them anywhere fast and she was so tired of trying.

“I honestly wouldn’t know,” she admitted with a sigh. “With his internship and mine... I mean, we talk on the phone sometimes but I haven’t seen him in weeks and...” she stopped short of confessing any more, the fact that she was hardly missing her boyfriend at all and yet missed so many other people. “Do not read anything into this,” she warned Logan just the moment he opened his mouth to speak.

“As if I would ever dare,” he replied hands held up in mock surrender as he eyed the finger she was pointing at him as if it were actually a weapon of some kind.

There was a smile in his eyes that made Veronica want to grin just the same, though she knew she shouldn’t. Sometimes she thought Logan knew her too well, maybe even better than she knew herself. That was scary and yet at the same time oddly comforting. It reminded her that she could be herself here, almost as much as she could be at home with just her Dad to worry about her.

“So, how is your summer so far, Logan?” she asked, settling back against the couch cushions and inadventanly, or perhaps subconsciously, moving a little closer to him.

“Hmm... well...” he said, as if considering it carefully, before declaring rather suddenly and loudly. “Boring!” 

Veronica laughed out loud as he moved closer to her in such a way as she really didn’t pay much attention to it.

“It can’t be that bad,” she said, looking sideways at him. “You’ve got sun and sea, and a bud to go babe-watching with,” she reminded him.

“Yeah,” agreed Logan with a nod, looking straight ahead even as he spoke to the blonde by his side. “But everybody else is gone and y’know how they tell you, you don’t miss what you’ve got 'til it’s gone?” he said, turning his head to meet her gaze then. “Turns out that’s true,” he said too seriously.

Veronica swallowed hard, telling herself she should look away, move herself away from this situation before it got out of control, but she couldn’t. No part of her body would comply to her brains demands because everything was being over-ridden by a terrible want to just kiss this guy already. In this particular moment, she could almost forget they had ever broken up or why such a thing had happened.

“Logan,” she said too softly, just as the door opened and in burst Dick with Mac right behind him.

Veronica and Logan leapt apart like scalded cats at the realisation their friends had finally returned, and she was soon checking her watch to see how long she could spare before she must head for the airport.

“You’re back,” she said after a long pause, rushing at Mac to hug her. “How is everything? Are you okay?”

“Well, I’m still pregnant,” said her friend, a little bemused by what was happening here, or what might have been happening before she and Dick walked in. “The doctor said eight weeks, which I pretty much knew already.” She rolled her eyes.

Dick slumped down into the couch beside Logan, where Veronica had been just a moment before.

“It was cool, man,” he explained to his friend. “They like feel around and stuff, and you hear the heartbeat from inside her stomach!” he declared, like it was the coolest thing ever.

“That’s great, Dick.” Logan laughed lightly at his buddy’s antics. “And everything’s cool, with the baby?” he checked with Mac.

“No problems,” she confirmed. “Which is the weirdest kind of relief,” she admitted.

It had been a traumatic thing, finding out she was pregnant, and then realising that the child she carried had been made in drunken one night stand with Dick Casablancas. Still, today had gone pretty smooth. Dr Devlin was a really nice guy and had really helped put Mac’s mind at ease about a few things. Dick had been there the whole time, trying his best to be helpful but for the most part just being dumb. It wasn’t his fault, Mac figured he just slept his way through biology class much like very class he took in High School. The sex part he got, but he knew even less about the pregnancy and baby parts than Mac did.

“I’m so sorry, Mac,” Veronica apologised, “but I literally have to go right now,” she said showing her watch to her friend. “If I miss this flight-”

“No, it’s okay, I understand,” Mac assured her, though it pained her to know she was losing her best friend again so fast and for so many weeks, especially when she was in this condition. “I appreciate that you would stay this long.” She smiled. “You think you could drop me home on your way, then we could talk some more?”

“Of course,” Veronica agreed easily as she picked up her bag and swung it onto her shoulder.

Dick got up only when Logan did, and said goodbye to the girls.

“It was good to see you, Veronica,” her ex told her with a genuine smile that she returned.

“You too, Logan,” she assured him. “And Dick,” she continued, shifting her attention to the blond, “I don’t think I have to remind you that if you don’t do what needs to be done for Mac, I will hunt you down, and they will never find your body,” she promised him, in such a way that even Logan wasn’t sure she was kidding.

Veronica left then, having to wait a second in the hall when she realised Mac hadn’t immediately followed her. Instead she was hovering in the doorway looking back at Dick. After an awkward moment of thought, she came back into the room and leaned up to plant a kiss on his cheek.

“Thanks for today,” she muttered before scurrying away like a mouse afraid the cat was about to... well, kiss her or something, though that didn’t make any sense!

All the same, she was gone in an instant, leaving a grinning but somewhat puzzled Dick in her wake as she rushed to catch up to Veronica by the elevator.

Neither of the young women really spoke until they were in the car, both a little lost in thought about the afternoons events with the men in their lives.

“So,” said Veronica eventually. “You’re definitely having a baby,” she stated as if perhaps just realising it was an actual fact for the first time. “I still don’t know what to do with that.”

“You’re not the only one.” Mac sighed, one hand resting on her stomach that as yet really didn’t show any noticeable signs of change. “I’m sorry,” she said then, causing her friend to glance at her from the road with a puzzled expression. “For leaving you alone with Logan so long. I know that must’ve been weird and awkward.”

“Hmm,” Veronica made a non-committal sound as she put her attention firmly back on the road. “I don’t know.” She sighed. “I mean, it is awkward, very, incredibly awkward with me and him, but I meant what I said. It was good to see him, because the crazy thing is I’ve really missed him while I’ve been gone,” she admitted. “I actually miss him more than Piz.”

“Wow.” Mac reacted with evident and expected surprise, that only made Veronica wish she’d never opened her big mouth, despite the fact it had felt good to get that out there, for all of ten seconds.

“I know, I know,” she lamented. “I’m a horrible girlfriend and a terrible person.”

“Hey, like I can have an opinion on your messed up love life,” her friend huffed. “I’m carrying the spawn of Dick Casablancas!” she declared in such a candid way that Veronica couldn’t help but bust up laughing.

Mac was joining in before long, and the two young women shared a terrible fit of the giggles at the absurdity of both their situations right now. It was crazy, possibly even unbelievable if you were looking in from the outside at their lives. As it was, the laughter died before too long, as the realisation hit that this was it. They were to be parted again for the next few weeks and deal with their own difficulties all alone. By the time Veronica returned from her FBI internship at the end of the Summer, Mac would be more than three months into her pregnancy. The thought of it brought them both back down to Earth with a bump.

“I’m glad everything is okay,” said Veronica thoughtfully. “With the baby, I mean, that it’s healthy and everything.”

“Thanks. Me too,” Mac smiled genuinely as the car came to a halt outside of the Mackenzies home. “I know it’s weird, but if there had been anything wrong... I know it might’ve been easier, but I couldn’t want that.”

“I know,” said Veronica with an understanding nod of her head. “Even Dick seems like he’s trying to do the right thing.”

“So far, so good,” her friend agreed. “Y’know he asked the doctor if the baby was a boy or a girl.” She rolled her eyes. “He seemed genuinely stunned when he told him we wouldn’t know that for a good while yet.”

“Clearly he only stayed awake in Biology class long enough to learn the make a baby part,” said Veronica, matching her friends eye-roll.

“But he is trying,” Mac defended the father of her child, still finding such a description odd even inside her own head. “I have you to thank for that, don’t I?”

“What are friends for if not threatening the father of a friend’s child to step up to the mark or else?” She shrugged easily, sharing a smile and then a hug with her good friend. “Take care, Mac,” she told her, holding on tight, “of yourself and of that baby.”

“I promise,” the brunette said through tears that were already welling in her eyes. “Damn pregnant lady hormones,” she complained once again as she got out of the car, making Veronica chuckle.

“It’ll be okay,” she promised her friend as she leaned out of the car window and waved goodbye for now.

Mac watched her go from the front porch and smiled to herself.

“It might just be,” she agreed in a soft voice, before letting herself into the house.


	7. Chapter 7

Cindy Mackenzie was laid out on her bed, both hands on her stomach that as yet showed no real sign of the life that grew within. Of course she knew the truth, the only person here in this house that did. A doctor had confirmed it and she was one hundred-percent, without a doubt, pregnant with the child of Dick Casablancas. It was perhaps the last situation she ever expected to find herself in. The pregnant part was crazy enough but the fact Dick was the father was beyond the Twilight Zone!

Still, a smile came to her face that she couldn’t help when she thought of him. For a guy who had always been kind of mean to her and very liberal when it came to sleeping with women, he was actually being really sweet recently and decent about stepping up to the mark. Mac knew she had Veronica to thank, and maybe even Logan, for Dick’s change of heart, since he’d started out denying the fact he could even be the Dad. As if Mac would be unsure! She was hardly the kind of girl to just jump into the beds of strangers. Of course, she and Dick had missed the bed completely, having sex on her dorm room floor. It was hardly romantic, but it had certainly been hot and intense. One thing Mac knew for sure was that she had enjoyed herself that night, however drunk and stupid she appeared to be.

Now reality was hitting home with a vengeance, reminding her with a nasty laugh that she ought to have paid more attention when teachers, parents, and friends advised against getting ‘drunk and loose’ as her grandmother used to say. In some ways she supposed it could have been worse. At least she went willingly into her liaison with Dick, she couldn’t say he’d really taken advantage of her, any more than she had taken advantage of him in his own state of more than a little drunk. The other upside was she managed to pick someone who must’ve been pretty careful or pretty lucky up til now since she hadn’t caught anything nasty that night. Pregnancy was still a pretty serious side effect to a night of passion, but not as bad as it might’ve been.

Mac couldn’t help but be just a little happy about her baby. It was a part of her, a being that she made with another person, and that would always be connected to her. Whether a boy or girl, she was going to love this child forever, no matter how awkward its conception was, or how difficult it might be making her life right at this moment.

It was her parents reaction that Mac was dreading most right now. She had to tell her Mom and Dad what she and Dick had done and what that night had caused. In a few weeks time, it was going to start becoming obvious that she wasn’t as thin as before, that she was expanding in the stomach area in particular. She had been feeling sick in the mornings, if she actually started throwing up, that was going to get noticed. Ryan could start to realise something was wrong and he would make mention of it, such was the nature of bratty little brothers.

It bothered Mac a little about her studying too. She was such a bright student, and it would be her parents biggest problem with her new situation, she was sure. They would be disappointed that she acted so thoughtlessly as to get herself into this condition, but even more than that perhaps, they would see it as her throwing away a career if she had a child now. Mac couldn’t deny that she had to agree with that at least a little bit. She couldn’t go back to college the same way she had been before, living in a dorm room and doing as she pleased. That didn’t mean she couldn’t study at all, and she’d already promised herself she would be finishing her studies one way or another, even if she had to take a year out and/or study from home for the most part. They said you can’t have your cake and eat it, but Mac would find away to raise this child right and get her education too. It could be done, she was sure, if she had a little support. Goodness knows how long Dick’s interest would last, and being realistic Mac wasn’t counting on it for long. Veronica would try to help out, she knew, but she couldn’t rely on her friends forever. She really hoped her parents would understand once they got over the shock and be the support she knew she was going to need, but of course until she told them the truth, she would never know for sure.

In some ways, she wondered if they’d care much. It was times like this when Mac was almost glad that her Mom and Dad were not her blood relatives. How much could they really care about her situation? Then she remembered that they chose to keep her years ago and loved her to no end in spite of the fact they were not really her parents. Of course they were going to care she was pregnant, whether they reacted badly or not was the real question. Mac had never really thought about how they might take this kind of news, because she expected that if the day ever did come when she had a pregnancy to announce, it’d be way down the line when she was older and successful, in a serious relationship, maybe even married. Life didn’t often go as planned, and this was no exception. She could plan how she broke the news though, and that was what Mac decided she needed to do now.

Sitting up on the edge of the bed, she rifled in the drawer for a hand mirror and fixed herself with a serious look.

“Mom, Dad, I’m pregnant,” she said, before rolling her eyes at herself and starting over. “Hey Mom, Dad. I have something to tell you... I’m having a baby.”

Mac went on like this for a while, trying out various ways of approaching the subject, all kinds of ways to tell her parents the truth about her condition. She was just starting over for about the thirtieth time, unaware that she was a little less than alone by now.

“Mom...” she began again, only to have the bedroom door pushed open.

“Did you call for me, sweetheart?” asked her mother as she poked her head into the room.

Mac went ashen in a second and very nearly dropped the mirror onto the floor. Thankfully her reflexes were good enough it never hit the carpet, else she might be facing seven years bad luck on top of everything else!

“Er, no,” she said quickly, shaking her head. “I just... I’m going out,” she forced a smile as she shoved the mirror back into the drawer, grabbed up her bag and squeezed out of the door past her Mom. “I won’t be late back,” she promised, planting a quick kiss on her mother’s cheek and then practically running out the front door, leaving a bemused Mrs Mackenzie in her wake.

* * *

Dick Casablancas was laid out on his bed, both hands grasping an old photo album that had seen more use these past few months than the many years that went before. His Mom had put the thing together, a kind of a scrapbook of photographs starting from the day of Dick’s on birth, progressing through to his first birthday, then the birth of little Cassidy, and a few shots of the two brothers together as they grew. It stopped when Dick was four years old and starting at Kindergarten. He never ask his Mom why it stopped then, but he knew anyway. That was when Dick stopped caring so much for weak little Beaver. He made new and exciting friends at school and craved Daddy’s good opinion too much. They started to tease baby brother, pull nasty pranks on him, and then laugh when he cried. It made Dick feel physically sick now to think of the awful things they had done to Cassidy, the innocent child who never deserved it.

Logan had assured him, more than once recently, that no matter how he treated his kid brother, he did not make him a criminal, a rapist, a murderer, a suicidal. Some people were just made that way, and there were other reasons for his behaviour too. Woody Goodman was to blame for a lot of it, they were all sure of that, but Dick couldn’t help but still blame himself somewhat for the way his brother turned out.

This photo album seemed to find its way to the top of any drawer he hid it in, the front of any shelf he tried to lose it on. Since finding out Mac was having his baby, Dick had started thinking more and more about his own childhood, the baby brother he treated so badly, and the relationship Cassidy had shared with Mac before. If things had been different, it was likely that the kid Mac was carrying would be Dick’s nephew or niece rather than his son or daughter. Things weren’t different though, they were as they were, and the past could never be changed, whether it be something recent or many years before that you’d like to rectify.

“I’m so sorry, Beav,” he said quietly, as his finger traced the face of Cassidy in the last picture the album held.

Dick had no idea he had an audience until suddenly there was a gasp from the door he hadn’t even heard open, and he turned to see Mac framed there. He wondered why she was gaping at him in such a way, until he felt the single tear on his left cheek and moved fast to wipe it away with the back of his hand.

“Logan let me in,” said Mac, feeling overwhelmingly awkward. “I just... Are you okay, Dick?” she checked with him, knowing it was a ridiculous question since he was clearly far from okay, as he moved to get off the bed.

“Sure, I’m great,” he lied outright, looking for a place to stash the photo album before she could ask any more questions.

Somehow Mac seemed to have developed super-speed abilities or something, at least that was the only explanation Dick had for her suddenly being at his side, reaching for the book in his hands. Part of him wanted to snatch it away and tell her to get lost, to stay out of his private stuff, but the other half of Dick wanted her to see. He let her take the book from his hands, sighing as if it were the last thing he wanted as he shoved his hands in his pockets and sat down again on the edge of the bed.

Mac wasn’t sure how to react as she let her bag drop to the floor and flipped through the pages of the photo album she held. She didn’t stop until the back page, two kids of no more than three and four years old grinning madly at her from the the last photograph.

“Is this you and..?” she asked, his name catching in her throat, and Dick never made her say it.

“Yep, that’s us.” He smiled sadly, at happy memories and the loss of same. “It’s so weird, to know he’s gone, that he’ll never be Uncle Beav or...” he trailed off when he realised that he was only hurting himself and Mac as well with what he was saying. “So, you’re into computers, right? You wanna play something?” he asked, gesturing out into the living room where the games consoles lived.

Mac shook her head as she put the photo album down on the nearest shelf and came to sit beside Dick on the end of the bed.

“You can’t keep changing the subject every time Cassidy gets mentioned,” she said, wincing herself at her own words, but knowing that out of the two of them she was going to have to be the grown up here. “He was a big part of both our lives and now we’re going to have to be in each other's lives whether we like it or not,” she reminded him.

“Yeah.” Dick nodded, knowing she was right. “It’s just... I don’t know how I’m s’posed to feel about him, y’know?” he tried to explain and though he was doing so pretty badly, Mac tried her best to listen. “’Cause he was my little brother, so I loved the guy, but he did all this bad stuff... to those kids on the bus, and Ronnie, and you.” He shook his head.

“I know,” Mac sympathised. “I mean, for what it’s worth, I did love him,” she told him honestly. “I think, on some level, a part of me always will, because that little piece is remembering how sweet he could be, how kind and funny and...” she stopped talking the moment she glanced up and her eyes met Dick’s own. “But then I remember the bad stuff, and I don’t know how to deal either,” she admitted, a shiver running through her both from the way Dick was looking at her now and the fact his fingers seemed to have found hers on the bed.

They understood each other’s pain and confusion, it was what had brought them together in the first place. It was what had thrown them into each others embrace and made this baby she now carried. They had a connection that could never be broken even before they’d made a life together, because they were the only ones to really understand what it was to love and hate this same person in equal measure, and at the same time feel so horribly guilty for what had happened to that guy.

It took a moment for Mac to realise that one or both of them had moved, that somehow she and Dick had drifted closer together. She recognised that look that had settled in his eyes and dreaded the even bigger mess they might end up in if she let herself go and allow him to kiss her. It couldn’t lead to anything good, she told herself, pulling back sharply and scrambling to her feet.

“Um, I should go,” she muttered, stooping to grab her bag and then turning to the door.

“Why’d you come here anyway?” asked Dick curiously, sure she hadn’t given a reason yet.

Mac let out a strange sound, a cross between a sigh and a humourless laugh, as she turned around to glance at him again.

“I honestly don’t know,” she admitted with a half-smile. “I just... I needed out of the house and I wanted someone to talk to, I guess,” she told him, her fingers lacing together in front of her, like a kind of nervous habit she hadn’t realised she had til now.

“You wanna talk? Talk,” he invited, not sure why, except her presence was better than nobody at all and she did at least seem to understand what he was feeling, there was a chance he could return the favour. “It’s cool, y’know. I can listen when I want to, even if I probably won’t be able to help...” he was saying when he suddenly realised words were not really what Mac needed right now.

At some point when he wasn’t looking she had burst into tears, great heaving sobs shaking her body as streams of salt-water rained down her reddening cheeks.

“I’m sorry,” she choked out, trying to wipe her eyes with her hands and calm down at the same time, but neither came easy. “It’s just stupid hormones and... and, I just...” she couldn’t say anymore as emotions took her voice completely from her.

She looked like she was going to bolt, but Dick didn’t want her to leave like this. In truth, he didn’t want her to leave at all. Usually when girls cried, he exited, stage left, as fast as his legs would carry him. He didn’t do complications and tears and such, he was there for the good times and gone before anything turned bad or ugly. It seemed that was less than true these days, as he got up from the bed and moved towards Mac, reaching out for her. He hadn’t expected her to accept a hug too easily, but any port in a storm was never a truer phrase as she collapsed into his embrace, still crying hard.

“Hey, it’s okay,” he told her, as he held her close and let her sob all over his T-shirt. “It’s gonna be cool,” he assured her, even though Dick had no idea how any of this was going to turn out well right now, and could just as easily cry too.


	8. Chapter 8

Mac felt decidedly strange right now, a weird kind of comfortable and awkward at the same time that she just couldn’t make sense of. Here she was in Dick Casablanca’s bedroom at the Grand, his arms holding her close to his chest and rocking her gently back and forth. She’d stopped crying a few minutes ago, no tears left for now, and yet she was in no hurry to move.

It was true that she and Dick had been closer than this before, just once but that was all it took. She was carrying his child and they certainly ought to be able to at least sit in the same room together, and yet she hadn’t ever envisaged this being them. Mac wasn’t sure she’d ever thought about her and Dick being anything to each other in a long time. Yes, she knew they were going to be parents to the same child, but she’d assumed he couldn’t be all that interested or would perhaps give her some cash and leave her be for the most part. She never for a moment thought they could be so much as friends, but right now he was certainly being just exactly what she needed - quite literally a shoulder to cry on.

“You feeling better now?” he asked her, on realising her sobbing had ceased.

“I don’t know,” she sniffled. “A little, I guess, thanks,” she forced a watery smile as she looked up at him, his arms still firmly around her body. “This wasn’t exactly... I mean, I didn’t come here to cry all over you,” she explained, feeling the heat rise in her cheeks as he gazed down at her.

“It’s cool.” He shrugged. “No biggy,” he assured her, releasing his grip on her when it was clear she wanted to move.

Dick felt strangely cold when Mac’s body was gone from his arms and he wondered if there was more to that than just random contact with some chick. He didn’t dwell too long on that thought though, it wasn’t the way he worked.

“I feel so dumb.” Mac sighed, wiping her eyes and then pushing her hair out of her face in the same movement.

“Hey, I know how that feels.” Dick smiled, bumping her shoulder with his own, glad to see her expression shift to match his own - it was never cool when chick’s cried.

“It just feels like everything is messed up right now, in my head, y’know?” she tried to explain, though for someone usually so good with words she was struggling immensely.

“Kinda crazy,” Dixk agreed with a single nod, “but y’know you wanna talk or hang out or whatever, like if home gets rough or awkward, I’m here,” he offered without ever really looking at her.

Mac thought it was almost cute how seemingly shy Dick was being right now. This was certainly a side of him she’d never seen, and when compared to the night they spent together, the one that had led to them making this child, well, he certainly had been anything but shy then!

“Thanks, I...” she began, only to stop and frown when she realised Dick was currently holding her cell in his hand.

She hadn’t really thought about the fact she’d put it down when she came in, but clearly he’d noticed and scooped it up. Before she had a chance to ask what he was doing, he handed it back to her with a smile.

“There you go,” he told her, flicking his fringe out of his eyes. “Now it’s Emergency Dick enabled.” He winked, and though Mac knew he must mean he had simply given her his number, the way he said it made her both giggle and blush thanks to the innuendo.

“You want me to...?” she asked, gesturing to his own phone that sat on the nightstand, just a little surprised when he handed it over to let her enter her name and number.

Perhaps all this should have happened before they slept together; the number swapping, the flirty banter, and so forth. Still, both Mac and Dick were getting used to the fact that things rarely ran in the order or way they really ought to in their lives. Maybe it was the effect of Neptune or something, since all their friends seemed to be similarly afflicted.

“It’s weird,” Dick noted, as Mac put his cell back in his hand. “I have so many babes numbers in this thing, and I’ve... y’know, ‘been with’ so many of them,” he air quoted. “Out of all those girls, you were the one I got pregnant,” he said, like he’d only just realised it or something.

“I think it was probably more the lack of protection to blame,” said Mac with a wry smile, “and less the cosmos aligning to throw us together.”

“Yeah.” Dick was inclined to agree, but soon looked pensive again as another thought hit him. “But you’re not the first girl I forgot to-”

“Dick,” Mac interrupted him, her eyes now closed despite the fact such a move had no effect on her ears, of course, “I kinda don’t want to hear about the girls you’ve slept with before,” she admitted, peering out of one eye when he didn’t immediately say anything else.

“Sorry,” he said awkwardly with a gesture of surrender.

It was clear he really hadn’t meant to offend and was feeling just as uncomfortable as she was. He didn’t know how to handle this situation any better than Mac and she ought to realise that. Finding things to talk about was never going to be easy, and that included the one thing that connected them, their unborn child. Dick hated the silence of not talking though and so wracked his brain for a new topic that maybe they could try.

“What about the guys you dated?” he asked Mac. “I mean, there was the anti-cruelty to animals guy and then that geeky dude... What happened to them?” he wanted to know.

Mac wondered if she really wanted to tell him about this but figured she may as well. It wasn’t as if anything awful had happened, as if she had done anything wrong. Besides, she had no-one else to talk to about these things, especially with Veronica away, and the truth of the matter was she and Dick really ought to try and know each other better on some real levels, rather than just the physical one.

“Well, Bronson was great,” she tried to explain as she pulled herself up to get more comfortable, her back against the headboard now as she looked over at Dick, lying back on the bottom of the bed, propped on his elbows, “but we didn’t have much in common, and Max... well, I thought we had a lot in common,” she admitted. “Kinda seemed not so much after a while. We just... we wanted different things.” She shrugged.

Thinking about it now, Mac realised she was getting very different things out of life to what she expected since her and Dick’s night of passion that had led to her pregnancy. Still, she felt her life could go somewhere good, compared to Max’s own career path that seemed pointless to her.

“I guess it doesn’t matter how similar two people seem.” She sighed then. “They can end up being different.”

“Well, you and me are like way, way different,” said Dick thoughtfully. “So, doesn’t that mean we should end up working out perfectly?”

Mac wasn’t really sure how to respond to that, and the blond’s eyes locking onto her own really wasn’t helping at all. She knew the two of them had slept together once, that they were having a baby, and would probably be in each others lives one way or another for a good long while now. What she hadn’t seriously considered was that she and Dick would ever be more than some awkward kind of friends. An image flashed through her mind of a wedding and subsequent marriage with Dick Casablancas, and the idea was so ridiculous she just bust up laughing.

“Wow,” said the surfer as he stared at Mac in her fit of hysterics, not really sure how else to react.

Truth be told, it kind of stung that she would laugh like that, so hard and loud, at the very idea of them getting together. It wasn’t like she hadn’t gone willingly with him that one night they had together. Sure, they were both drunk and all, but she was here now, taking comfort in his arms and his words. It wasn’t as if Dick himself had really thought about them being a couple either, and what he’d said about the possibility of them being perfect for each other was meant as a semi-joke at the very least. Still, he hadn’t thought it was quite so funny, and it actually hurt to realise she was so amused.

For her part, Mac honestly hadn’t meant to react quite so overly much. Just as soon as she saw shock and hurt register on Dick’s face, she felt doubly bad about her laughter. Of course the two of them really did seem like a crazy couple, but perhaps she shouldn’t be quite so mean as to continue laughing in his face about it.

“I’m sorry,” she said, much more soberly as he stared at the blankets on the bed and distinctly not at her. “Honestly, Dick, I didn’t mean to offend you or anything,” she swore as he glanced up to meet her eyes. “But c’mon, you’re not exactly ‘my type’,” she air-quoted, since she knew herself it was a dumb sort of a phrase anyway. “And I am a billion miles away from yours,” she pointed out, with little to no embarrassment about it. “We’re just not the obvious pairing/” She shrugged, knowing it was true.

“Is anybody?” asked Dick, before having a thought. “Except for Logan and Ronnie.” He rolled his eyes as he dropped onto his back and stared up at the ceiling. “Seriously? Those who just need locking in a room together 'til they figure this thing out.”

“You see it too?” Mac checked, moving around on the bed and closer just so she could see the face of the person she was talking too. “I mean, I don’t care if they yell, scream, tear lumps out of each other, or... y’know, the other thing,” she said with a look, “just so long as they figure things out and get back together already.”

“Agreed,” said Dick, offering her a hand for a high-five which Mac accepted without a moments pause, before dropping onto her back beside him.

They lay there a few moments in strangely comfortable silence. Maybe it was just easier to talk about something and somebody else for a while. Perhaps they just needed to do this right now, be friends in some strange way, get used to each other’s company. Nobody could say they would ever be any more than that, but they had to have some kind of relationship if they were going to have this baby together, and that seemed pretty much set in stone at this point.

Of course it soon occurred to the both of them that they were lying next to each other on a bed and what that could potentially lead to. Within ten seconds of that thought hitting, Mac was sat bolt up right, with Dick just a moment or two behind her.

“I should go,” she declared, getting up and reaching for her purse.

“Okay,” said the blond, now on his feet, shifting awkwardly. “Um, but y’know,” he said, pushing his hair out his face for something else to do, “if you wanna hang out again sometime-”

“Yeah,” Mac replied a little too fast, cutting off the question before it had even been asked. “I mean, yes, that would be cool, maybe, sometimes.” She smiled, a little unsure as to how exactly they were supposed to part ways.

Last time, when they were here after the doctor’s appointment, she had kissed him, on the cheek but it was still a kiss. Now she was stuck here wondering whether he was expecting her to do it again, or if she wanted to. He had been really nice to her today and comforting and all, but on the other hand she didn’t want him to get the wrong idea. After all, just because they were having this baby together, it didn’t mean they were a couple or anything.

“It’s weird,” he said too suddenly, making Mac wonder if the guy could actually read her thoughts, but she doubted it somehow. “It’s like I can talk to you,” Dick considered, “better than anybody else... even Logan.” He frowned a little, clearly confused by the realisation.

Mac found herself smiling as she thought how cute he looked when he got all bemused, which happened a lot to be fair. She couldn’t deny that she understood his confusion this time though. If anyone had told her just a few weeks ago that Dick would fast become her confidante and chief comforter, she would’ve laughed in their face, but now she knew better.

Since she had no real way to explain herself and was mindful of saying the wrong thing here, Mac went on instinct alone. She stepped in closer to Dick and put her arms around him, feeling the strangest warm glow inside when he returned the action and hugged her for a few seconds.

“Bye, Dick,” she said then as she hurried from his sight, leaving the blond staring after her, still confused but smiling nonetheless.


	9. Chapter 9

“Seriously, Dick, are you even trying?” asked Logan as he bested his opponent on the games console one more time.

It was almost as if the lights were on but no-one was home with his best bud today. It was true that people might describe Dick that way on any given day of the week, but this was different. The blond was rarely quiet or thoughtful, even since he found out he got Mac pregnant and all. It seemed to Logan there must be something major on his mind, since Dick was never usually so easily beaten over and over at any of the computer games he loved to play.

“Huh?” he said as he glanced from the screen he’d barely been seeing anyway to look at Logan from his place sat against the base of the couch. “Sorry, dude, my brain is just like Wander City.” He sighed, dropping his controller to the carpet. “It’s just... Y’know when chicks cry, and how uncool that is?” he said, at which Logan nodded his agreement. “Man, when Mac was crying all over me, I felt like really bad, and I wanted to help her out, y’know make her feel better, but I dunno ‘cause she’s not like other babes I went out with,” he shrugged, apparently at a loss.

Logan couldn’t help but smile, not at the fact Mac had apparently been so upset, or because Dick was struggling so much with this, but at the fact his friend really seemed to care. Women had always been Dick’s specialist subject, so he said, and yet Logan knew that the only girls that went near the blond with a ten foot pole were just bimbos and gold diggers. He never had a real girlfriend, since Madison ‘the Bitch’ Sinclair hardly counted. There was never a nice girl for Dick, never someone sensible and serious, because he never seemed to want that, and yet he’d found it in his little brother’s ex and he hadn’t a clue how to deal.

“I keep thinking maybe I could buy her something,” the surfer mused. “Y’know, like jewellery, right? ‘Cause all chicks like that stuff, but Mac’s not... she’s kinda not like other girls.”

“Yeah, you really might wanna re-think the gift anyway,” his friend pointed out as he shut off the games console and leant back into the couch cushions, explaining his words when Dick looked up at him strangely. “You never went out with her, Dick, you just slept with her. If you have sex with a woman and then pay her, what does that make her?” he asked, waiting for the penny to drop, which eventually it did.

“Woah, Mac is so not a hooker,” he said definitely, looking almost angry that Logan had even made the point.

“Exactly, so you don’t treat her like one,” his friend smoothed over that fast. “I dunno, why don’t you ask her out, y’know like a date, see how that goes?” he suggested, feeling a little odd giving dating advice when his own love life read like a Greek tragedy.

“Maybe,” Dick considered. “Only last time we went out that ended in drunken sex,” he realised with a frown that was all too soon a grin. “Actually...”

“Not really what I meant, Dick.” Logan rolled his eyes at the never-ending lengths to which his friends horniness stretched. “But hey, at least you can’t get her pregnant again,” he said, slapping him on the shoulder as he got up from his seat and walked towards his room.

“Yeah, well,” the blond countered as he scrambled to his feet and followed on behind. “I don’t want her having twins or anything, so that is a no,” he reasoned.

Logan turned around fast with wide eyes and a lesson for Dick on the birds and bees ready to fall from his mouth, then promptly changed his mind. There was really no point right now in explaining that having sex with a pregnant woman would not make twins somehow. It was probably more important for him to stick to sage dating advice in the absence of Veronica. She was the one who would bounce Dick’s head off the pavement if he screwed up with Mac, and without her here to keep things on an even keel, Logan figured it fell to him to try and keep anything unfixable happening between the future parents.

“Dick,” he said, getting the wandering guy’s attention. “Mac can’t get drunk if she’s pregnant, that’s a bad idea,” he pointed out. “So, why don’t you take her out to dinner, stick to soda, and I dunno, man, just try for charming?” he suggested, hoping that was enough good advice for one day as he felt quite exhausted by it all.

Logan went into his room, letting the door click shut behind him, hoping rather than believing that Dick would be a gentleman if and when he decided to take Mac out. He was a good guy deep down, of course he was, but not all that bright and entirely thoughtless at times. These were never good things around a smart, pregnant woman.

“Charming?” Dick echoed the word with a frown. “I could do charming,” he considered then, shrugging his shoulders, and headed off to his own room to make plans for a dinner date that would charm and cheer Miss Cindy Mackenzie more than she ever had been before.

* * *

Dick felt a little odd as he turned the next corner that led into Mac’s street, so much so in fact that he pulled the car over well before he reached her house and let out a breath he hardly knew he’d been holding. This was, without question, the most serious situation he ever found himself in the whole of his life. Getting a girl pregnant would have been complicated enough, but getting Mac pregnant was a whole other ball-game.

She wasn’t his usual type, that much was clear, she was also his brother’s ex and that still felt kind of wrong when he thought on it too much. She didn’t want an abortion or adoption either, she wanted to raise this baby, their baby, as best she could, and Dick had made some kind of sub-conscious decision to help her with that.

Big Dick would throw money at situations to deal with them or just make them go away, and Dick Jr knew he could do the same. It was what he had planned to do at first but somewhere between Ronnie yelling at him and today, he had realised he wasn’t just going to do this because he had to.

Mac was a good person, way better than Dick himself could ever be, he was sure, and he meant what he said to Logan about wanting to cheer her up. It kind of broke his heart when she’d come over and cried all over him. Now he had a plan to make her happier, and yet now he was here, within a block of her home, and he felt kind of stupid for even showing up,

Mac was so cool, and so intelligent and all, Dick couldn’t think of one reason why a girl like her would want to actually go on a date with a guy like him. She wasn’t all about looks and cash, the two things that he always counted on when it came to picking up chicks. She would want someone brainy and sweet and charming... Yeah, he could do charming, or so Dick thought, and yet now he was here he was seriously starting to doubt himself somehow. Unfortunately, there was no time to consider bolting before he was seen. As fate would have it, Mac was not at her house where he was headed, but walking down the street right towards his car.

With a frown that he hoped was just confusion and not deep distress or disappointment at his being here, Dick watched Mac approach and rolled down his window to lean out and talk to her.

“Hey babe,” he greeted her, trying to be cool.

“Hey, Dick,” she replied uncertainly, glancing back the way she had come as if worried someone might see her talking to him. “Um, what are you doing here?” she asked, realising immediately after the question left her lips that it probably sounded a little more harsh than she intended - Dick didn’t seem to notice.

“I was just in the neighbourhood,” he lied. “And I was thinking... you wanna go someplace? Like to eat or whatever?” he asked, almost looking as if he was nervous about saying the words out loud.

Mac wasn’t entirely sure what to make of the question. In a different situation, she might’ve assumed he was asking her out on a date. In fact, in the days before their one night of passion that had resulted in her pregnancy, she would have taken his words as the in-road to a practical joke. Dick Casablancas was the kind of guy that asked girls if they were busy tonight, and when told no, just laughed and said he wasn’t surprised.

Things were so different now. So far removed from their high school days when they barely knew each other, and what they did know they didn’t care for. Now they were the future parents of the same unborn child, and the oddest kind of friends somehow. It was as if Dick was the only person Mac could really talk to these days, and vice versa. The idea of spending time with him was surprisingly appealing, and yet the fact he even asked her to go to dinner, a request sounding so very much like the offer of a date, still had Mac’s head spinning.

“Earth to Mackenzie?” the blond said then, waving a hand in front of her face. “You still in there?” he joked with a crooked smile as she visibly shook herself out of a daze.

“Uh, yeah,” she reacted suddenly, glancing up to meet his eyes. “Yes, I mean, I’m here, and yes, I could eat,” she agreed, finding a smile.

“Cool.” Dick nodded as he opened up the passenger side door for her. “I know this great place, classy but you don’t have to dress up or anything so... it’ll be cool,” he grinned as she got into the car and pulled on her seat-belt.

“Great.” Mac nodded and smiled, though inside she was thinking just how strange this was.

Shouldn’t the dinner date come before the sex and the pregnancy?

* * *

By the time Dick pulled the car up outside the fancy restaurant, Mac already knew this was a bad idea. The fact that she was pretty sure this place cost the equivalent of half a months wages for her Dad just for two people to eat only added to Mac’s list of reasons not to stay here right now. Dick seemed oblivious as he shut off the engine and rambled on a little more about the delicacies the restaurant had to offer. He didn’t seem to notice that between his fast driving and talking, he was making poor Mac turn green and for fear of actually throwing up all over the leather interiors, she hadn’t yet managed to open her mouth and tell him. now the car was stationary and she could get some air from opening the car door, she found her voice.

“Dick!” she interrupted him abruptly, causing him to look over at her with surprise. “Important points,” she stated, swallowing hard. “Number one, your driving is awful and has made me nauseous. Number two, I’m a vegetarian so all your talk of steak and lobster and all is not only lost on me, but also not helping with the nausea,” she pointed out, glad now that at least the need to vomit was subsiding. “Number three, I am not dressed for this place and would probably be too embarrassed to ever eat here,” she told him honestly, feeling just a little bad for snapping at him like this as his expression showed both sadness and guilt.

“Sorry,” he mumbled, not entirely used to having to apologise for things, and yet with Mac it felt like the only thing he did lately. “I hate Logan,” he then complained out of nowhere and Mac looked at him strangely, wondering where that came from. “I totally wanted to do something cool, y’know, to make you happier or whatever? Logan said I should take you out someplace nice. Yeah, that’s going real well so far.” He rolled his eyes, slamming his hands on the steering wheel in frustration.

If anything, he had made Mac feel worse right now, as guilt crept further into her heart. She hadn’t realised quite how hard Dick was trying to be nice to her, and she really didn’t get why he would, but it was so sweet. He didn’t have a lot of experience in the area of really treating women well. Picking up chicks and bedding them, that he could do blind-folded with his hands tied behind his back, and he probably had, though that particular train of thought led Mac nowhere good! He was doing his best, that was the point, and she was shooting him down. It seemed wrong somewhere, even though it wasn’t really her fault that he’d screwed up either.

“Y’know what I’d really like to eat?” she said in the awkward silence that seemed to have settled over the two of them. “Popcorn, raisinettes, and gummy bears.” She smiled as he looked her way. “You wanna take me to the movies, Dick?” she asked, overly-sweetly on purpose, as if she was a shy young thing and not the girl he recently knocked up after a one night stand.

Dick couldn’t help but laugh at her funny expression and tone, sure that was what she expected him to do. The movies worked for him, and if it was going to make Mac happy, well, that was the point of the whole evening!

“Sure.” He nodded, reaching to put the key back in the ignition, only to feel Mac’s hand on his arm stopping him.

“Walking is better,” she said carefully, and though he still didn’t seem to get it, he agreed and got out of the car.

“We don’t have to see a chick flick, right?” he asked, making a face like he’d just been asked to eat worms.

“Seriously, Dick?” Mac rolled her eyes as they both rounded the car and started walking together. “Do I look like the chick flick type to you?”

* * *

“Oh my God!” Mac howled with laughter, bent double with the force of it as she and Dick walked home from the movie theatre. “Please stop, I can’t breathe,” she complained, sure that his impressions of the characters from the lame movie they’d just seen would be the end of her.

Dick seemed equally as amused by himself, and by the fact Mac was finding him so funny. The movie really had been hilarious, not because it was a comedy, but because it was just so lame. The special effects and CGI were beyond obvious, the contrived romance between the hero and heroine was awkward at best, and the action sequences were about as impressive as watching two kids with sticks pretending they were in Star Wars!

Of course, it didn’t matter to Dick that he paid out cash on two tickets to the lamest movie of all time. What really mattered was that this evening could be firmly marked down as ‘objective achieved’ because Mac was not only smiling but laughing long and loud. She’d eaten her weight in popcorn and other snacks, and thoroughly enjoyed herself it seemed. That was all he cared about right now as they walked back to her house together, a little later than maybe they should’ve been, and much, much louder.

“It’s official,” he yelled to the neighbourhood. “Lightning Heart is the lamest. movie. ever!” he emphasised, shouting through cupped hands that Mac was sure amplified his voice for miles.

“Ssshh!” she urged him, almost collapsing onto him in another fit of giggles as they stumbled up onto the porch together and finally reached her door.

Mac landed with a bump, her back against the wall, and Dick’s hands grabbed her waist when he thought she was going to fall. A shiver ran through Mac then, all trace of laughter gone in an instant. Dick’s eyes had locked onto hers now and she half-expected he was going to lean in closer and kiss her. It was strange that she didn’t feel the need to push him away or run, but Mac didn’t think about it much. In fact she was so apparently hypnotised right now, as Dick seemed to be too, that they hardly realised the front door was opening until they had company.

“Cindy Mackenzie, are you drunk?” her mother asked crossly as she appeared, clearly having heard the yelling and overly loud laughter from before.

Though she was talking to an awkward looking Mac, her glare seemed to be mostly aimed at Dick.

“Hey, that is not cool, Mrs M,” he said definitely. “There is no way I’d buy Mac a drink in her condition...” he stopped short of saying anymore, watching Mrs Mackenzie’s eyes grow ridiculously wide as he realised what he’d just said. “Oops?”


	10. Chapter 10

Mac felt sick, and not the usual nausea she was adjusting to that came as part of her pregnancy, not even the same feeling as when she woke up that morning, alone and hungover, with the realisation in her mind that she and Dick Casablancas had sex the night before. This wasn’t even the same sick feeling as when she realised he had gotten her pregnant, when the bottom dropped out of her world and she wondered how she was ever going to deal. This was almost worse than all of that as she sat beside her one-time lover on the couch in her own living room, facing her parents who had just found out in the worst way possible, about her unplanned pregnancy.

“I can’t believe this,” Mr Mackenzie said for about the fourth time as he paced up and down, looking from his wife in the armchair over to his daughter and away again as he refused to stop moving. “I mean, when did you stop talking to us, Cindy?” he asked her, looking completely baffled. “We didn’t even know you had a boyfriend!” he said, gesturing towards Dick who shifted awkwardly.

“I don’t!” Mac insisted, immediately thinking that was probably the worst thing she could’ve said, despite the fact it was at least the truth.

“Cindy.” Her mother shot her a warning look, though whether she was cautioning her daughter against further lies or prompting for an explanation, nobody was sure.

“Mom, I’m sorry,” she said with an expression that proved she meant her apology. “I really am,” she insisted as her eyes went to her father who had finally come to a halt, his arms folded across his chest as he stared down at her.

Mac wanted to explain, she really did. After all the time she had spent deciding how and when she was going to tell her parents the truth, she ought to be ready for this, but she was still struggling. Of course, she hadn’t expected this to happen quite as it had, with Dick blurting out the truth in front of her mother like that. She would like to be mad at him, but she had to give him props for not bolting just as fast as he could from the scene. Besides, it was her own fault she hadn’t told her parents about this sooner, she knew she really should’ve.

“Look, I know this is a shock for you, and believe me it was a shock for us too,” she explained.

“Totally!” Dick chimed in, looking apologetic the moment Mac glared at him for interrupting her flow.

“I know this isn’t an ideal situation,” she went on, “and I know you probably think I’m pretty dumb right now-”

“That’s just it, Cindy,” her father interrupted this time, someone she was not prepared to stare down so she could finish. “You’re not stupid. You’re not one of these girls that dresses like a... like a lap dancer and throws herself at anybody in pants,” he said, perhaps too loudly.

“You’re a sensible girl, Cindy, you always have been,” her mother continued. “We’re just struggling to understand how this could’ve happened.”

Mac opened her mouth to answer but the words stalled in her throat. She could explain, she really wanted to, but bringing up the topic she must venture into was not only going to embarrass her but also drag up memories from a year before that she’d rather not think about. Not only that, but Dick was sat right here beside her. She really wasn’t sure he deserved to be so hurt by what she was going to have to say. Glancing sideways at him, she saw him nod his head, as if he knew what she was struggling with and was letting her know it was all okay. Maybe that wasn’t what was happening here, but Mac went with it, because it was all she had right now.

“It was the anniversary of Cassidy’s death,” she blurted out, watching both her parents’ faces fall as her dad sunk down onto the arm of the chair beside her mom. “I was upset and Dick was upset... I know that’s not a good reason for what we did but it’s what happened,” she explained, never making eye contact with anyone in the room, for more than one reason.

“He was your brother,” said Mrs Mackenzie suddenly, looking at Dick as realisation seemed to dawn.

The blond nodded dumbly, hating that he was having to fight with too many emotions right now. This night had been going so well, he had managed to make Mac laugh and look so happy and carefree for just a few hours. Because of his screw up, she was now as upset as ever and he was having to sit here facing her parents, thinking too much about his brother’s death and all that had come after. Of course, this day had to come eventually, and the thought had occurred that maybe he would need to be here when it did, but he’d always kind of wished he wouldn’t be, because of the very reasons that he was facing right now.

“Well,” said Mr Mackenzie in the uncomfortable silence that followed. “I suppose what’s done is done, and it can’t be changed,” he said evenly, and Mac was just glad he’d stopped yelling if she were honest.

“This happened... about two months ago?” her mother noted as she thought on things.

“Yes.” Mac nodded. “I’m nine and a half weeks,” she admitted.

“Okay,” her dad said thoughtfully. “Well, then, you do have options-”

“No, I really don’t,” his daughter told him fast as she suddenly got to her feet. “And if you think that I do, Dad, then you don’t know me at all,” she insisted with fire in her eyes as she stared across at him.

Sure, she was happy to listen to her parents on this. She understood they were confused, upset, disappointed, angry, and she couldn’t really blame them for any of that. Still, if her father was about to start talking about abortion or adoption or anything other than her raising her own baby, Mac just wasn’t prepared to listen. It hadn’t taken much for Dick to realise she could never give up her child, and she had hoped that the people who had raised her all of her nineteen years would know her much better, well enough to realise there was no option but one in this situation.

“Cindy, sit down,” her mother advised her, with a hand at her arm, but Mac shook her head.

“I can’t,” she said definitely. “I can’t until I know that you understand,” she said with a crack in her voice and tears in her eyes that she did her very best to fight.

To his credit, Dick noticed her distress, and was determined that since he was the major cause of it, he was going to ensure he helped her out. He stood up fast without really thinking about what he was going to say or do once he was there. Both Mac’s parents shifted their gaze from their daughter to him and Dick swallowed hard, pushing his fringe out of his face as he fought for words to say.

“Look, I know you’re all shocked and everything, which I totally get,” he told them, “but I’m not gonna leave Mac to deal on her own, okay? We did the two to tango thing, and now we’re dealing with the consequences,” he said, all the time wondering if he was making this worse, at least until he felt Mac’s fingers brush against his and then her whole hand slide into his own.

For a long moment that seemed to just go on and on, Mr and Mrs Mackenzie stared at Mac and Dick, neither apparently sure what to say next. It was admirable that this boy would stand by their daughter in such a situation, but by the same token he was also the one to get her into trouble.

“Er, Dick?” said Mr Mackenzie at length. “I think you should leave now.”

“Not gonna happen,” the blond responded immediately. “I am not leaving Mac here alone if you’re gonna, like, make her cry or tell her she’s gotta get rid of our kid or whatever.”

Mac could hardly believe that he was standing up for her like this, but she liked it. A smile came to her lips in spite of the seriousness of the situation, and her hand squeezed his a little tighter. To think he would stand up to her parents for her was kind of amazing, especially when she had just told them he was in no way her boyfriend, just a one night stand.

“What we say to our daughter is none of your concern, young man!” Mr Mackenzie snapped.

Though Mac was still entirely pleased that Dick would stand up for her, she could also see this situation getting really out of control. It was going to be hard enough figuring this out with her parents, if they started arguing with her non-boyfriend, well, she just couldn’t deal, not on top of everything else.

“Please, don’t,” she urged them all to stop before they said anything they regretted later, or more over anything Mac herself would regret. “Dick, maybe you really should go,” she said, looking his way. “I appreciate what you’re trying to do, I really do.” She smiled, talking fast when she realised he was going to try and cut in. “But I need to talk to my parents alone. Please?”

Dick wanted to argue, he really did, but there seemed to be little or no point. Mac had that look on her face, a little too similar to Ronnie when she got what he called her ‘game face’ on. It was kinda scary and not of the good, so he figured maybe he really should leave. After all, he really wanted to start a fight with the Mackenzies and that was not going to help anybody.

“Okay,” he agreed with a nod, though he was practically shooting lightening bolts from his eyes as he looked from Mr to Mrs Mackenzie and then turned to go. “Call me, babe,” he told Mac as he finally let go of her hand. “Seriously, if you need me.”

“I will,” she agreed, “and thanks, for tonight,” she said honestly.

There was a moment then as their eyes met that it was easy to forget what situation they were really in here. It was as if they just had a date at the movies that just ended a little awkwardly. Her being pregnant, his yelling at her parents just now, the fact they were first connected by a young man guilty of so much and now gone from the world. Everything faded away just for a few seconds, and it was the strangest feeling for Mac and Dick to experience. A million miles from the drunken passion and longing for something other than pain that they had shared one night nine and a half weeks ago. This was innocent, in the strangest way, and was all too soon over for the both of them.

Dick walked out the door alone, and Mac turned back to face her parents. She sank back down into the couch cushions and hung her head in the shame she knew she ought to feel. She had done wrong, she was aware of that, and her parents had every right to be disappointed and upset. Still, she was not going to be bullied, she was never doing to let that happen, even less so now. She had Dick’s strength coupled with her own after the support he had shown her tonight. It wasn’t until now that she had come to realise just how much that really meant.

* * *

“Hey, man.” Logan was smiling widely as his friend walked back into their suite at the Grand. “How’d the date go?” he asked cheerfully, sure that Dick couldn’t have screwed up a simple dinner date - the look on the blond’s face suggested he was wrong.

“Dude, we were so busted!” sighed Dick as he dropped down onto the couch beside his friend, and Logan quickly shut off the TV, tossing the remote to one side. “And just when it was actually going okay”

“Busted?” Logan echoed the word with a frown. “By who? And for what?” he asked with genuine concern.

His mind went racing round a half dozen possibilities, but none seemed feasible. Dick wasn’t the Dine and Dash type, and they couldn’t have been caught for underage drinking or anything, not with Mac being so sensible, and pregnant too. Clearly whatever it was, it wasn’t good.

“Mac’s parents,” Dick admitted with a heavy sigh, “for her being... y’know,” he made a vague gesture like an oversized belly, apparently unable to say the word ‘pregnant’ right now, for whatever reason.

“Well, that had to be a fun conversation,” said Logan, with no lack of sarcasm, knowing from what Dick had said that Mac was in no way ready to talk to the folks about her bun in the oven right now. “Who told them?” he asked then, a little confused since he was pretty sure that other than himself and Veronica, nobody knew about the child Dick and Mac had made except for themselves.

Of course, the way Dick wouldn’t even look at him then gave his friend the answer loud and clear and Logan winced on Dick’s behalf as he explained.

“It was like we had this great time,” he told him, throwing his weight back into the couch cushions. “Mac wasn’t so into dinner so we hit the movies... Dude, do not go see ‘Lightning Heart’ unless you want to laugh 'til you puke, because it is lame!” he declared, starting to laugh again at the memory, in spite of the serious conversation they were meant to be having here.

“Get to the point, Dick,” Logan urged him when the blond veered severely off topic, a little mad on behalf of Mac and her parents given the blond’s attitude right now.

“Okay, so, I walk Mac home,” he continued to explain, with random hand gestures and such as was his over-the-top way, “and we’ve had like a stupidly good time. We get to her door and... and it’s weird but I was seriously thinking about kissing her,” he admitted. “Which is crazy, y’know? Not because it’s Mac ‘cause obviously been there before and ‘woah!’” he said with a look that said it all. “But because I was actually thinking about it,” he emphasised to make the point he wasn’t sure Logan was getting.

“So, you thought,” his friend echoed, “but you didn’t do?”

“Nope.” Dick shook his head. “I might’ve, ‘cept the door opens and there’s Mrs Mac going postal about Mac being late and all,” he explained. “She accused her of being drunk. So I’m like ‘Not going to let the pregnant lady drink, duh!’”

“And that’s how they found out their precious baby girl is not just non-virginal but having a little Mac of her own,” said Logan, partially face palming on his friend’s behalf. “Nice going, Dick,” he told him, slapping him on the shoulder, before getting to his feet and going for the mini-fridge to grab a couple of beers for them.

When he returned, he had to tap his friend on the shoulder with the bottle in order to get his attention. The poor guy had his face in hands and looked mortified by what he’d done when he did look up.

“Why do I always screw everything up?!” he asked, presumably rhetorically, and Logan took it as such.

“Did she ask you to leave after that?” he wondered aloud as he resumed his place on the couch and swigged at his beer, whilst Dick only contemplated his at first - that was weird in and of itself.

“No.” He shook his head. “Well, yeah, but... y’know it was kinda cool when we stood up to her father and all.” He smiled then, looking surprisingly happy considering the circumstances. “There was no way he was gonna make Mac feel bad,” he said definitely, gesturing perhaps a little too much with his full beer bottle before taking a drink.

Logan just sat watching his friend a moment, processing what he was seeing and hearing here. All roads seemed to lead to just one conclusion and yet it seemed so bizarre. Dick loved women, but only so far as to get into their underwear, as far as Logan could tell. He wasn’t a bad guy, he took no for an answer if it was given, and just moved on to the next prospect, but he thought with his crotch more often than his brain or his heart, at least until now, it seemed.

“You really care about her,” he said aloud then, not sure what response he might get.

Apparently neither confirmation or denial was coming, just a little surprise.

“Dude, she’s having my kid!” gasped Dick, almost spitting a mouthful of beer all over the carpet, as he got up to head for his own room

Logan wasn’t sure whether his laughing would only make things worse so he attempted a straight face and sipped at his own drink some more. He opened his mouth just as Dick reached his bedroom door to wish his buddy goodnight, but never got the chance as the blond spoke first.

“Hey,” he said turning back a moment. “Maybe if you’d gotten Ronnie pregnant you guys would still be together,” he considered.

It took a moment before Logan could find an answer to that one.

“Uh, I’m not sure that’s how it works, Dick,” he told him at length, a comment his friend just waved away, calling goodnight over his shoulder as he disappeared behind the bedroom door then.

Logan was still staring after him, even after he was gone from sight. Him and Veronica and a baby? It was a crazy thought, and yet he had considered it more than once. Months ago when they were happy together, when he started to let himself believe that happily ever after could actually be a reality for them somehow. Logan hadn’t expected a smooth ride, but he had been invested in his idea that he and Veronica were epic, meant to be, despite every obstacle the world threw at them. Now that dream was a bitter memory, and it was Dick who seemed to be falling in love and potentially getting the family life he never really had before. Logan didn’t want to be jealous, in a lot of ways he wasn’t, but in one he just couldn’t help himself. Dick had someone to love, someone to be with, albeit their relationship was far from conventional. Logan had let the love of his life slide through his fingers all too easily. Who was the bigger fool really?


	11. Chapter 11

It could have gone better, but then to be fair it could also have been much worse. Mac thought she had come up with every possible reaction her parents could have to finding out she was pregnant, but nothing had quite prepared her for reality. They were mad at her to start off with, that was pretty much a given. It was disappointment that fuelled a lot of their anger, Mac knew, and she was willing to admit she was kind of disappointed in herself anyway. A drunken fumble with Dick was hardly her finest hour, and getting pregnant as a result of it was hardly her idea of a good plan, but it had happened and now they, and everyone around them, had to face the consequences.

It was dumb really, but Mac could almost feel jealous of Dick. After all, his parents didn’t seem to expect much of him so it was likely they would be unsurprised and unmoved by the news he was going to be a father in a little over six months. From what she knew, his Mom was miles away in Europe with her new family, and with Mr Casablancas in jail and Cassidy gone, Dick really had no family at all, except Logan to play pseudo-brother.

“He’ll have a family soon enough,” said Mac to herself as she put a hand to her stomach that was just now starting to show signs of its expansion.

Whether she liked it or not, and right now she couldn’t be sure which way the scale wanted to tilt, her baby was Dick’s baby too. That didn’t mean they had to be close, not like boyfriend/girlfriend or anything, but they were going to have to see each other a lot, going to have to be friends somehow.

If someone had told Mac just a few months ago that she had to be friends with Dick Casablancas, she would’ve laughed in their face and told them there was no chance at all of that happening. Now, everything as so different; he was so different. Maybe this pending baby was what Dick really needed to make a man out of him, Mac considered, though it was strange to realise anything could perform such a feat on a guy like him.

It occurred to her then as she sat at her desk, staring unseeing at her Twitter feed, that she really ought to let Dick know what had happened with her parents. Last night it just got too late and then this morning it was necessary to start up talks again. Nothing really got achieved the night before, not least because both Mac’s Mom and Dad were so shocked and overwhelmed by the news that their baby girl was having a baby of her own. By this morning, everyone was just a little more calm and reasonable. A rational conversation began and ended with just a few things decided upon. There was no way Mac was getting thrown out of her home, for that she was grateful, and her parents were not about to force her into abortion or adoption, not that she would have let them do it but she’d sooner them not even try.

Last night, Dick had been great. It was strange but his presence really had helped to begin with. Yes, eventually, Mac had asked him to leave because there were things she needed to discuss with her parents that she felt the need to do alone. Still, when he was there, letting her hold onto his hand, standing up to her parents alongside her when she really needed him, Mac could’ve cried she was so happy. Lately a lot of things made her cry, things that never would have before she got pregnant, so she didn’t dwell too much on this effect Dick seemed to be having on her. He had made her laugh and cry last night, both in very good ways...

Shaking her head free of such dreamy thoughts and very deliberately knocking the silly grin off her own face, Mac reached for her cell and switched it on. She needed to call Dick and let him know everything was okay, that was all. She was not going to start getting all silly and girlish about how he made her feel last night, when he looked as if he was going to kiss her and all. No, Mac was not going to focus on any of that, because it would lead to no good, absolutely no good!

As her cell phone came alive, Mac wasn’t surprised to see she had a new voice-mail, and yet strangely a little disappointed to realise it wasn’t from Dick. She frowned some as she hit the button and listened to Veronica’s words from the night before.

“Hey, Mac. I know it’s late, so you’re probably asleep already. I just called to talk, check in, see how you and Baby Bump are doing. If you want to call me back tomorrow, I’m around most of the day. Hope to hear from you soon. Bye!”

Mac smiled at the message and immediately dialled back. She could use a friend to talk to right now, and none gave better advice and support than Veronica Mars.

“Hey, I take it you got my message,” the blonde greeted her friend with an evident smile.

“Hi, Veronica.” Mac smiled just the same at the sound of her voice. “I did, and I so would’ve called you back sooner but... last night was kind of a big deal,” she admitted. “My parents found out about the baby.”

“Ooh, I’ll bet that was fun times,” replied Veronica with obvious sarcasm. “You okay?”

Mac paused a moment before answering.

“Surprisingly, yes,” she told her friend then. “I mean, this is all kinds of a mess still, and Mom and Dad were in no way happy that I made a baby, especially with some random dude that I wasn’t even dating-”

“Wasn’t even?” Veronica echoed, interrupting her friends flow. “Hold on a second, that past tense implies you are dating now,” she said suspiciously.

It seemed odd to think that Mac and Dick ever even did the deed, but they were drunk and as Veronica knew only too well, the demon drink could make a person do all kinds of wacky things. Still, the idea of these two actually getting along, going out on dates, being a real couple, that was all five fruity flavours of crazy!

“We’re not,” said Mac quickly. “There is no dating... well, there was one kind of date,” she admitted then, not sure how to take the audible gasp in her ear. “I mean, it wasn’t supposed to be a date, at all,” she explained. “Dick just wanted to cheer me up so he took me to the movies and...”

“And?” Veronica prompted when Mac was quiet too long.

“And we had a really good time,” she admitted at length. “Y’know when he’s not being a complete ass, Dick can be genuinely... sweet.”

The silence on the other end of the line was to be expected, Mac thought. She knew that she herself was shocked to realise how nice her dead ex’s brother could actually be, so she could completely understand Veronica’s shock. After all, she hadn’t been around for the past few weeks to see how Dick had started to change.

“I’m speechless,” said Veronica eventually, “but I am glad, Mac, really. You need support and Dick has a responsibility here,” she reminded her. “He owes it to you to be a decent person.”

“He’s doing that, Veronica, I promise,” she assured her. “Anyway, how’re things at the FBI? You must be having such a great time,” she said, a little more comfortable with changing the subject right now.

“I can’t deny it's a great experience, and I’ve met a ton of people,” Veronica explained with a smile evident in her voice, at least at first, “but it’s not home, y’know?” she added, with a touch of sadness in her tone that made Mac feel bad for her.

“Well, it’s just another two weeks and you’ll be back in Neptune,” she reminded her friend. “You should be just in time for my twelve week scan.” She smiled widely, glad to know she would have that extra piece of support as her pregnancy hit the second trimester.

“Like you need me for that.” Veronica rolled her eyes almost audibly. “You have the wonderful Mr Casablancas to hold your hand, right?”

“Don’t make jokes,” Mac admonished her, albeit playfully since she knew her friend meant no real harm. “He really is trying. In fact, I’m gonna have to go soon, I should really let him know how things turned out with my parents last night,” she said, checking her watch and realising her plans had gone a little awry from getting Veronica’s message and calling her back.

Of course there was always time for a chat with her best friend, but she would have to make sure she made time and effort to go see Dick like she had planned. He really was being a good guy lately, that was no lie, and he deserved to be treated as such. She only hoped it lasted, because she was liking it so far.

* * *

Mac felt way less odd stood here at the door to the best suite in the Neptune Grand than she had before. To think she was so nervous about facing Dick Casablancas that day a few weeks okay when she had to tell him the shocking news that she was carrying his child. These days they were not strangers or enemies or even a couple that got together for a one night stand and nothing more. They were parents-to-be of the same child, and it some convoluted way they were friends.

Of course, most people didn’t have babies with a friend, and those that did were usually friends first and would-be parents after, not this other way around that Mac and Dick had managed, but that was okay. If there was one thing that they had both learnt living in Neptune, it was that nobody’s life here really ran smooth or in any sensible order. You had to go with the flow for the most part and hope it turned out okay. So far it wasn’t so bad, Mac realised, as she raised her fist to knock on the door and waited for Dick or maybe Logan to answer.

“Dude! You are so going... down.” 

What had started out as threatening but humorous yelling at his room-mate fell flat just a soon as Dick opened the door and found Mac on the other side. She wasn’t exactly the last person he expected to see but she certainly wasn’t the first either.

“Hey.” She smiled as she glanced up at him, suddenly feeling awkward as a memory spun through her mind from the night before, her and Dick by her front door, him leaning in closer. “Um... Can I come in?” she asked when she found her bearings, shaking her head free from the thoughts that were causing her to want to blush and run in tandem.

“Oh, yeah,” said Dick, seemingly just now realising he was supposed to have some kind of manners where Mac was concerned.

He moved aside and let her in, where Mac found Logan sat on the couch in front of the TV, the display of which showed a video game at ‘pause’. He got up when he spotted her, hovering as if he wasn’t sure if leaving the room or staying put seemed less rude or whatever.

“You can stay, Logan,” she assured him with a smile. “You know what’s happening anyway, and it’s not like it’s a secret anymore.”

When she glanced from him to Dick then, Mac felt bad when she saw him looking shame-faced. She really hadn’t come here to make him feel worse about spilling their secret to her parents, in fact, she was here to tell him it was all okay now, or as okay as it was ever going to get.

“Mac, seriously, I am sooooo sorry about that,” he told her truthfully, shocking Logan as much as anyone with the sound of an apology, and it showed too as he dropped back into the couch cushions as if in a dead faint.

Mac wanted to be serious given Dick’s sincere apology, but Logan’s antics made her want to grin.

“It’s fine,” she said, rolling her eyes at the young Mr Echolls before meeting Dick’s eyes. “Really, it is. I mean, my mom and dad aren’t exactly thrilled to know you ‘knocked up their baby girl’,” she air-quoted awkwardly, “but they’re not kicking me out of the house or trying to make me get rid of this kid so... well, it could’ve been a lot worse.” She shrugged. “Besides, you probably did me a favour. My parents had to find out sometime and bonus: I didn’t actually have to tell them myself.” She smiled, finding a bright side even now.

It didn’t occur to Dick that she might be saying these things to make him feel better. He took what was said to him at face value, and if Mac said everything was good then that’s what it was. He was scared to death that she was mad at him, it was why he hadn’t called her yet this morning, why he was up playing video games with Logan on the wrong side of lunch on a Sunday. Of course, he had seemed okay when she came in, because he was good at looking cheerful on the outside, even when his heart was breaking in his chest. Booze helped but mostly he was just an awesome actor a lot of the time. It was something most people didn’t know, except maybe Logan.

“So, there was no locking you in a tower or threatening to hunt Dick down like the dog he is?” asked Logan with his usual theatrics, presumably to break the awkward moment in which Dick failed to respond and Mac shifted uncomfortably under his gaze.

“Nope, none of that,” she assured them. “Everything is good... or at least no worse than before,” she considered. “But right now I’m more concerned about this huge craving I’m having for a double-chocolate ice-cream sundae.” She smiled suddenly. “So, what do you say, Dick? You up for hot fudge and whipped cream on something sweet?” she asked in complete misguided innocence.

Dick opened his mouth to answer but the words never came. Glancing at Logan and seeing the look on his friends face put paid to the dirty comment that had formed in his mind ever spilling from his mouth. It was clear from the shake of his head that his best bud knew it was a very bad idea and so Dick closed his mouth and nodded instead.

“Sure, ice cream is good,” he said a moment later, composure once again gained. “Give me a sec to grab my jacket, babe, and then we’ll blow this joint,” he told her with a wink as he disappeared into his room.

Mac laughed in spite of herself at his usual crazy humour, not really noticing Logan had moved til he was stood beside her.

“It’s cool, y’know,” he told her, thumbs in his pockets as he stared after his friend then turned to look at the brunette beside him. “That you’re letting Dick feel like he’s helping and all.”

“It’s his baby too.” She shrugged like it was no big deal, only the seeing the half-smirk on Logan’s face and interpreting it correctly apparently. “He has to be involved because he’s the father, that’s all. We’re not dating or anything,” she said definitely, though Logan continued to smile annoyingly, perching on the arm of the couch now.

“The movies last night, ice cream today,” he reminded her. “Sounds like dating to me,” he told her, with a raised eyebrow.

Mac looked phased for all of a second before finding a smirk of her own.

“I talked to Veronica today,” she told him smartly, knowing it was a low blow but unable to help herself in the circumstances, maybe the bitchy streak came as part of the pregnancy package, she couldn’t be sure. “I think she’s missing Neptune.”

Logan shook his head as he got up from his place on the arm of the couch and turned away to his bedroom.

“Not as much as Neptune is missing her,” he muttered as he went, leaving Mac almost wishing she had kept her mouth shut.

Before she had chance to think too much about it, Dick re-appeared wearing both jacket and shoes, waxing lyrical on the wonders of ice-creams and his various exploits of over-eating that were clearly meant to impress. Mac couldn’t help but smile at his antics, and at how easily his arm crept around her shoulders as he led her to the elevator... but they weren’t dating, of course not.


	12. Chapter 12

Mac knew she really shouldn’t shop for groceries when she was hungry, it was never going to end well, but in a bid to prove to her parents she was a responsible person, she was offering to take on more of the household chores and such. They needed to know she could be an adult and take care of herself if she had to, after all there would be a baby to look after too in just six months time.

Trundling around the grocery mart, pushing her cart, Mac just kept on getting distracted by chocolate bars, jars of pickles, and even the smell of fabric softener that seemed almost good enough to eat. It was all very weird and very much keeping her attention off where she was travelling. One minute there was an empty aisle before her and the next, with her eyes wandering to the shelves, she suddenly found herself ploughing headlong into a fellow shopper, practically knocking him to the ground with her cart.

“Oh, I’m so sorry!” she gasped as she realised what she had done, packets going flying from the opposite shelf as the person she had shunted righted himself. “I wasn’t... Weevil?” she stopped short of whatever she was going to say when she realised who it was she had inadvertently ‘run down’.

He reacted with surprise, not least because he had almost been knocked off his feet by the woman who seemed to know him. When he got his bearings, he let go of the annoyance at having his toes crushed by the wheels of a shopping cart and smiled genuinely.

“Hey, chica,” he greeted Mac who had always been decent to him. “No harm done, still got my unbreakable good looks,” he told her with a wink.

“And don’t forget the Latin charm, of course.” She rolled her eyes as he shrugged as if what she’d said was a given. “I haven’t seen you in months. How are you?”

They weren’t exactly the best of friends, but Mac liked Weevil. In spite of the fact he was supposedly from ‘the wrong side of the tracks’ he was always decent to her. She was the reason he had passed algebra and graduated High School, so he told her, and he would always be grateful for that. They had a little more than ‘friend of a friend’ status via Veronica, and catching up was something they wanted to do rather than felt they should.

“Can’t complain,” he said in answer to her question. “There’s not much happenin’ at work with all you college kids taking your summer break so I picked up a few odd jobs for my Uncle Angel, and ends just about meet, y’know?” he told her.

Mac nodded that she understood, and knowing Weevil wouldn’t react well to any kind of pity, she attempted not to look too sorry for him as she spoke.

“Must be tough,” she sympathised.

“It is what it is,” he told her, quite happy to shift the focus of the conversation just as soon as he was able. “How are things with you? Anything exciting happening in the in crowd that I should know about?” he semi-joked and Mac flinched a little at the prospect of telling him about her situation.

“How would I know about the in crowd?” she reminded him. “The closest I get is Veronica, and she’s not back 'til tomorrow,” she said, mind racing as to whether or not she was ready to make any revelation about her condition right now. “As for me, I’ve been pretty busy... y’know, being pregnant,” she blurted out, thinking she may as well.

Her parents knew, as did Dick, and Logan and Veronica too. There was really no harm in letting Weevil in on the secret that was fast becoming public knowledge. After all, she was starting to show now and baggy clothes were only going to cover so much for so long, as the weeks spun by without a stop.

“Pregnant?” Weevil echoed the word, looking suitably shocked. “Geez, girl, how’d that happen?” he asked, catching the look on her face right after and realising how dumb that sounded. “Well, I know how it happened, obviously,” he assured her then. “I just... well, congratulations, I guess,” he said eventually, moving to hug her again.

Though he was acting like he was pleased for her, Weevil still wasn’t sure he’d picked the right reaction. Mac sure seemed okay with the whole baby deal, so he had to assume this pregnancy wasn’t the result of an attack or a terrible mistake. Still, she was the smart type, way too smart to be getting knocked up and dropping out of college, or so he always thought until now.

“I know, you’re shocked,” she said as they parted, as if she had read the thoughts clean out of Weevil’s mind. “Believe me, I was too, at first, but I’m getting a handle on it now. Kinda had to.” She shrugged her shoulders.

Her biker friend nodded that he understood, after all, he had been through this with his sister, his cousin, and various friends in his neighbourhood. Mistakes got made, accidents happened, babies got created that weren’t exactly planned. Still, by the time the kids came along, everybody got used to the idea, and they were as loved as any babies every could be. He had no doubts that Mac would make a great Mom, even if she hadn’t planned on being one just now.

“How long?” he asked her, thinking it was the friendly thing to do, and also just a little curious to see if he could work out which of her boyfriends might be the father.

“I’m three months now,” Mac told him, with a slightly nervous smile. “I actually have the twelve week scan this afternoon.”

Weevil tried to calculate and even his non-mathematical brain figured the big night must have been just about when college got out for summer break. Far as he knew, that meant Mac was sans guy, which was confusing.

“So, should I ask who the father is or...?”

“Hey, babe.” His question was interrupted by the presence of Dick who came striding around the corner with a packet in his hand that he was still reading. “I finally found someone who knew where that stuff was, and... Oh,” he reacted with surprise as he looked up and realised Mac was not alone. “Is this guy bothering you?” he asked, his eyes narrowing as he put a territorial arm around Mac’s shoulders.

“Of course not.” She rolled her eyes at how dumb he was being, shrugging away the protection she didn’t need from a guy Dick ought to know was her friend.

Weevil was wide-eyed and perhaps even more stunned by this revelation than the original one. Mac getting pregnant was a hell of a surprise, but by Dick ‘Dude’ Casablancas? That was beyond crazy as far as he could tell.

“You and him?” he said, gesturing between the two of them. “Right. Er, I gotta go.” He shook his head then, jerking a thumb over his shoulder to make his point clear. “It was nice seein’ you Mac,” he told her as he backed away, “and good luck, I think you’re gonna need it,” he added with a look as he glanced at Dick and then strolled away.

“Asshole,” the surfer muttered in his wake, earning himself a smack in the shoulder from Mac.

“Dick!” she scolded him with his name alone, though he didn’t seem to get what he’d done wrong.

“What?” he asked in earnest and she really couldn’t be bothered to get into this with him.

“Nothing.” She sighed, taking the item from his hands and tossing it into the cart. “Let’s just finish up with the groceries. I don’t want to be late for the scan,” she reminded him as they moved off down the aisle.

Mac could see herself getting a lot of reactions similar to Weevil’s own. She could see his point, because she knew just the same as he did that she and Dick were not an obvious pairing. She also knew that other people would think she was wasting her life having a baby so early, but that was just the ways things were. She had the sex, she got pregnant, and so she would have and raise this child. As far as Mac was concerned, there was no choice in the matter.

* * *

Up until she got here, Mac really hadn’t been feeling nervous at all about her baby scan. At first, she figured it was because she was getting used to this whole situation, but soon realised that it was only because she had been keeping herself busy with no time to really think on it, so this appointment had ceased to be scary until she walked through the door.

It was almost ridiculous how relaxed she had been this morning at the grocery mart with Dick. They were so strangely domestic, going out to get the things her parents wanted and needed. She hadn’t asked him to come along with her, she was totally willing to drive and complete the task herself, but when Dick showed up just when she was leaving, almost as if he’d somehow planned it, she hadn’t the heart to turn him away.

It was strange how much Dick was trying to be a good guy right now. Back in High School he had always been such an ass, most especially to her and Cassidy when they were dating. Now Mac could hardly believe she was spending time with the same person.

Of course it wasn’t so surprising that he had changed; she had as well. Cassidy’s death hit them both hard, both the fact of him taking his own life and all the reasons why. He was way more screwed up than either of them ever could have imagined and it was tempting to try to place blame on someone for what had become of the kid that everyone called Beaver. Mac knew Dick wanted to blame her for a while, he had actually come out and told her so almost a year ago now. In some ways, she knew she blamed him just the same, wondering if part of what drove Cassidy over the edge was the thoughtless treatment he received from his brother and his father too.

The Casablancas’ sure had been through some tough times, and no amount of money and power could really help. Dick was pretty much the last man standing at this point, appearing strong but surely hurting and wishing he could just give up. His Mom was busy with her new family, his Dad was in jail, and Cassidy was gone forever. The only family he had in any real sense was the child Mac carried now. The whole thought of that made her want to cry for various reasons that she wasn’t really sure she could explain, but when Dick looked across at her when the Receptionist called for them to go in to see the Doctor, she forced out a smile.

This was like the most surreal situation for Dick. In his head he always assumed he’d either live fast and die young, or maybe pull a Hefner and just keep on marrying much younger swimsuit models as he grew old. The idea of a wife and kids, the whole white picket fence deal, it wasn’t really a future he ever imagined having because no ‘nice’ girl was ever going to want to get with him. Sure, he and Mac hadn’t exactly dated yet, their entire relationship working backwards so far, starting with sex and pregnancy and lately moving into what might be considered dating and getting to know each other better.

Lately they had got to talking a lot, not about anything deep most of the time because neither of them wanted to bring that stuff up when it wasn’t necessary. They got into movies and music and occasionally High School stuff, steering clear of any reference to Beav if they could manage it. Giving their thoughts and opinions on the epic journey that Veronica and Logan were still very much on was always a good one that they could talk about for hours, and probably had now that he thought about it. Of course, now the serious stuff was all there was to think about, talk about, and deal with as Mac pulled herself up onto the bed and the ultrasound equipment was set up for the sonogram.

“Okay, here we go. This might be a little cold,” said the doctor as he spread cold gel on Mac’s stomach that made her shudder and Dick make a face that said he wasn’t impressed.

“Dude, what is that?” he asked, making Mac want to face-palm, though she resisted the urge.

“It’s going to help us see your baby, Richard.” Dr Devlin rolled his eyes at the dumbness of the boy he had known since a child. “Now, this device is the transducer,” he explained. “And when we place it on Cindy’s stomach, this screen here,” he pointed, “will show us what’s inside her uterus.”

Dick nodded he understood and though it wasn’t really the right time, he decided to make a joke.

“I hope it’s a baby,” he whispered to Mac who laughed more out of nerves than because it was actually funny.

Of course, she forgot to laugh or do anything at all as the thump-thump sound of a tiny heartbeat echoed through the room, and there on the screen appeared a fuzzy little figure.

“Oh my God!” she gasped in shock, though she ought to have known what she was going to see.

Perhaps it was only just now sinking in that there really was a baby growing inside of here. Sure, it didn’t look much like a child yet, especially not in the blurry image shown on the screen, but she knew it was her baby she was looking at. She and Dick Casablancas, a most unlikely pair perhaps, but they had done this, they had made this child. The bigger shock than this realisation was the feeling of Dick’s hand slipping around her own and holding on tight. He didn’t say a word, which was pretty shocking for someone who usually had a smart-ass comment for everything, and when Mac looked his way she would almost swear she saw tears in his eyes.

“Dick, are you...?” she began, but never got a chance to finish her question as he suddenly got up from his seat and bolted from the room.


	13. Chapter 13

Mac wasn’t sure what to think when Dick suddenly bolted from the doctor’s room. There was hope in her when his fingers had wrapped around her own, holding on tight, that he really was committed to being there for her and this child. It was comforting and sweet to know she wasn’t alone, that he would stand up for her and not just bolt like a lot of guys might at the first sign of consequences, like she had really expected him to do from the beginning, truth be told. Now it seemed her fears might just be coming true as she watched him run out of the door, unable to follow him thanks to the doctor who held her still.

“It’s okay, Cindy,” Dr Devlin assured her. “You can find him in a moment. I think he’s just gotten over-emotional.” He smiled reassuringly, though Mac couldn’t quite believe it.

She would like to believe that was all it was, that Dick had become as overwhelmed as she was feeling by the sight of the child that was growing inside her, their own baby. Unfortunately, the more likely option seemed to be that reality had hit home with rather more force than the young Mr Casablancas could handle, and he had run not just from the room, but from the building, and from Mac’s life.

After assurances that everything with the baby was fine as far as the doctor could tell, plus a moment to clean up and re-dress properly, Mac ventured out into the corridor to look for Dick. She had half hoped he would be just outside the door, maybe back in the waiting area, and yet as she looked around Mac came up empty, finding no sign of the father of her child. Just when she started to feel disappointment bubble inside her, and tears well in her eyes, Mac turned the next corner and literally ran right into the guy she had been looking for.

“Hey,” he greeted her with an obviously forced smile as he pushed a hand back through his hair. “Er, you done in there?” he asked, gesturing back down the hallway to Dr Devlin’s office, apparently unwilling to talk about his running out on her just a few minutes before.

Mac couldn’t just let it go. Up to now they had been avoiding the awkward subjects as much as possible, like his brother for instance, and how they were going to deal after this baby was actually born and needed to be raised. There was no getting around it anymore, they had to talk about why he had bolted and if he really could deal with this situation as well as it had seemed in the beginning.

“I think we need to talk, Dick,” she said awkwardly, staring up at him and watching his eyes go a little wide. “Don’t worry, the baby is fine,” she insisted, assuming that was why he suddenly looked somehow panicked. “I just... I think we need to talk,” she repeated. “You want pizza?” she offered, knowing that the answer was always yes, and so reeling back a little when he shrugged and didn’t look so sure.

“Yeah, I guess so,” he told her as they headed for the exit and over to the nearby pizza place to eat.

Both Mac and Dick had that sinking feeling - this was not going to be a fun conversation.

* * *

Veronica was happy to be home, at least for the most part. There were times when she hated Neptune and wished it would just fall down a hole, a la Sunnydale, never to be seen again. Still, it was home and had been for too long for her to be so callous about its demise anymore. There were enough people here that she cared deeply for, she was happy enough to come back to it these days. Seeing her Dad after too many weeks of absence was perhaps the best thing, for both of them, truth be told. Of course, there were reasons aplenty why getting away had been preferable too.

First up was Mac and Dick, and their little bundle of joy that had yet to be born. It wasn’t that she wanted to avoid seeing her friends completely, especially Mac who she knew needed her support now more than ever. The trouble was, Veronica herself really didn’t know how to deal. She only ever had one friend get pregnant before and that had been a very different situation. This was Mac, who was practically like a sister these days, perhaps as close as Lily had once been to her. Finding Miss Kane in this situation might have been easier, it was at least partially expected, though it never happened. With Mac, Veronica never thought she would hear the words ‘I’m pregnant’ out of her mouth, not for years and only then when her friend was happily settled and in love with some upstanding decent guy. Dick would never have been first choice, hell, he wouldn’t even have made the list!

The fact that Mac said Dick was trying to do the right thing gave Veronica hope. She had even seen some evidence of his better behaviour when she was here before. It wasn’t as if the two of them were likely to make a permanent couple, but any support Mac was getting was a good thing right now and Veronica was all for it. Things were only going to get more complicated as the Summer drew to close and school started up again. There was no way Mac was going to be comfortable attending college in her pregnant state, not when she would be showing by the time classes began again. It wasn’t exactly practical either, when she wasn’t going to be able to finish out the year before her child was born.

The other problem Veronica had with returning to Neptune was facing her own tangled love life. When she left for her internship, things were undefined at best. Technically speaking, she was dating Piz, and that ought to be all that mattered. She cared about him a lot, in fact Veronica was pretty sure she loved him in a strange way, but saying so didn’t come as easy as maybe it should. Then there was Logan to consider. In some way, the young Mr Echolls had been a consideration in large parts of Veronica’s life since the age of twelve, no reason for that to change now just because they were on one of the off periods of their on/off relationship.

Just a couple of weeks before she left Neptune, Veronica had categorically told Logan he was out of her life forever. Unfortunately, it wasn’t so easy to cut a person out of your circle of friends, when they beat up the son of a mob boss for the sake of your honour!

The day she left, they said a friendly goodbye, a ‘see you soon’ kind of a thing complete with smile and wave. When she had come back to visit for Mac’s sake, things had only been more awkward, but at least then Veronica knew she could bolt straight back to Virginia before things got to crazy. Now she was home for good, to face not just Logan but Piz as well. Her boyfriend was going to wonder why she didn’t make more efforts to call him or visit over the Summer, when she could do so for Mac and he should wonder really.

Veronica felt guilty for thinking that Piz would forgive her anything because he was just that kind of guy and he cared for her that much, allowing her to get away with pretty much anything if she wanted to. It seemed wrong to even let the thought cross her mind of how easily he could be used, not least because she had wondered more than once if that was what she’d been doing with him from the very beginning.

* * *

Mac and Dick had been sat at a table in the pizza parlour for a while now and yet had not said a word to each other or anyone else, except for the waitress and that was only out of necessity. Food and drinks had been ordered and duly brought to the table, still neither half of this odd non-couple spoke at all. It was getting to Mac now, not least because she was worried by Dick’s strange behaviour. The not talking she could deal with, maybe, if he was actually eating, but so far he had done little more than pick at the slices of pizza on the plate before him. When Dick wasn’t totally up for eating junk food, there was definitely something very much wrong, as if she didn’t already know that from the way he bolted out of the doctors office a while ago.

“Dick, we came here to talk.” She sighed eventually, getting his attention. “You’re not saying anything”

“You said we should talk, not me,” he told her definitely, contemplating a blob of tomato sauce on the end of his finger, as if it would give him divine inspiration of some kind.

“I kind of hoped you’d start,” Mac prompted. “Explain the running out of the doctor’s room maybe?” she suggested.

Dick’s eyes caught hers for all of a second before he looked guiltily down at his uneaten food once again. He so didn’t want to be here or anywhere actually where he had to have this conversation.

For a while, things were kind of cool. He knew very well that Mac was pregnant and they were going to be parents before long, and sure that was scary as hell, but it was easy to forget most of the time. Days went by, filled with talking and jokes and shopping and stuff, and he and Mac had a good time. Dick could almost forget the life changing drama that was looming over both him and the pregnant chick that had fast become his best friend, next to Logan, of course.

Sitting in that room, watching as the doctor prepared Mac for the sonogram, he’d still been okay. Most of Dick’s energy had been focused on making sure his friend was alright, but then that picture showed up on the screen.

“It’s all real, y’know?” he admitted, not looking up at Mac yet. “I mean, it was always real, ‘cause I believed you and all, but then it was like really real,” he tried to explain but ended up doing so lamely and he knew it.

Talking was not Dick’s strong point. Beave had always been the one with the brains and the words. Dick had looks and charm but nothing much else going for him. He always hoped to coast through life on those two things, and the never-ending stream of cash that existed thanks to his father’s business acumen. Now he had to find all kinds of grown-up traits that parents needed to have. He had to learn to be helpful and supportive and thoughtful and all kinds of crap he never thought he’d need in his life. He wanted to be this person that Mac needed right now, but he was struggling to find a way to make it work, and it showed.

“Dick,” her voice was as soft as her touch when her hand landed on his on the table and made him meet her eyes. “Trust me, I know how real it all is,” she told him. “And you can be scared, that’s fine, because honestly? I’m terrified right now,” she admitted.

“Hey, I’m not...” Dick immediately started to deny it but couldn’t quite follow through with the lie when his eyes met Mac’s own. “Yeah, well, it’s not like I ever expected this to happen.” He sighed.

“I didn’t exactly picture my life going this way either.” She rolled her eyes. “It was always high school, college, lower paid job, own place, higher paid job and, well, then marriage and kids would’ve fitted in later, I guess.”

“Marriage?” echoed Dick sharply.

The word seemed as if it had given him an electric shock, his hand retracting from underneath Mac’s and headed up with the other one in some kind of surrender. Clearly he had taken that part of her condensed life plan as some kind of proposal, though it quite definitely was not in any way meant like that.

“Dick, I’m not asking you to marry me,” she told him quickly, fighting the blush that rose in her cheeks.

They had vaguely mentioned their ending happily ever after just once before, and both had laughed at the prospect of it. Things had changed some since then, they had gotten a little closer, and it didn’t seem quite so crazy that they could have some sort of relationship. Mac hadn’t let herself think on it too much, but there seemed to be little choice on the matter in this moment.

She hoped he wasn’t stung by her admitting she did not want to be his wife, though the way he reacted to just the merest mention of marriage suggested it was the last thing he wanted. She understood that entirely, which was why she took no offence at the fear written in his eyes until she confirmed she had no designs on him that way.

“Cool, not getting married,” he said more to himself than to her as he took a couple of shaky breaths and suddenly found his slice of pizza much more appealing.

It helped to know she was as freaked as he was by this whole baby thing, and that she wasn’t looking to change how things were between them right now. So far, he could deal most of the time. Mac was cool, she liked computer games, and she understood why superhero movies were awesome. It didn’t hurt that she was hot, in a geeky kind of way, and that she didn’t seem to think he was stupid or weak if he chose to talk to her about something real. He never had this kind of relationship with anybody else. Most girls he used for sex and then moved on. Most guys liked him because he was rich and good at playing the fool. Nobody liked Dick for being Dick, except maybe for Logan. He certainly never expected to have a chick for a good friend.

“Y’know,” he said, swallowing down most of his mouthful of pizza but leaving a trail of mozzarella dangling from his chin. “Just ‘cause we’re not gettin’ married and everything, doesn’t mean I wouldn’t be willing to give you a totally awesome ‘wedding night’.” He winked.

“Eeww!” Mac declared quite seriously, though she couldn’t help but laugh just a second later.

Dick was at least partially joking, she was sure, though she knew if she said yes, he would probably take her to bed and show her a good time... again. It was best to take it all as a pure joke than anything else, it was just safer right now until their strange and undefined relationship found a better grounding.

“You’re such a charmer, Dick.” She rolled her eyes as she picked up a napkin and help him removed the food from his chin.

He clearly hadn’t noticed the spill and took the paper napkin from her hand to finish the clean up operation when Mac’s cell started to ring. Checking the screen, she realised with a smile that it was Veronica called and quickly accepted the call.

“Hey.” She grinned, so glad to be hearing from her friend, the call reminding her she would be home very soon.

“Hey yourself, Little Miss Mom-To-Be,” Veronica greeted her. “Guess who’s back in Neptune already?”

“Oh, that’s great!” Mac enthused at the news her friend wasn’t just on her way back but finally here after too long away in her opinion. “How was everything at the FBI?” she asked, tipping Dick off as to who was on the phone, if he hadn’t realised before.

“Hey, Ronnie!” he called too loudly and with a mouthful of pizza that even Veronica could hear he was still chewing.

“Oh, you’re with Dick,” she noted. “I can call back or we can meet up later. In fact I was wondering about tonight, if you want?”

“I do,” her friend agreed quickly. “I could really use some girl-talk,” she said more readily able to speak since Dick had just now wandered off in search of ketchup.

“Girl-talk?” Veronica echoed, finding it just a little strange that Mac would request such a thing.

They didn’t so much do that kind of thing, the whole slumber party angle with ice-cream and chat about boys and all. Still, if that was what Mac needed right now, Veronica was game. It wasn’t as if they were going to get drunk, since between her own jet-lag and her friend’s pregnancy, it would hardly be a solid plan.

“Your place or mine?” she offered Mac the choice, secretly already thrilled to know she would be seeing her friend so soon.

She knew they would have to talk about Dick and the baby and everything, and that would be at least a little awkward. Of course, it also meant she would be able to get an objective opinion of her own love life, and as guilty as it made Veronica to think of it, it also meant she had the perfect excuse not to see Piz tonight!


	14. Chapter 14

It wasn’t like Veronica Mars or her friend Cindy Mackenzie to be particularly girlish in their ways, which was perhaps why Keith looked so stunned when his daughter opened the door to her friend and both practically squealed with excitement at the sight of each other. It made the PI smile though, not even so much out of amusement as how adorably cute they were. His little girl had grown into a fine young woman, not perfect because nobody was ever that, but he was very proud of how she turned out. She was so worried about Mac and wanting to be so supportive, where too many other teenage girls he knew or had heard of would shun a so-called friend in a time of crisis like this. Poor Mac, she had the world at her feet and now she was going to be a Mom by the time she was twenty. It wasn’t an ideal situation, but Keith was as willing to be helpful as his daughter, though secretly very glad he wasn’t going to be called ‘Grandpa’ himself any time soon!

“Hello, Mac,” he greeted her with a smile as he got up from his chair. “How are you doing?”

“Just fine, thanks, Mr Mars,” she told him dutifully, though the significant glances that passed between the two young women told him there were problems too, just not ones he was supposed to hear.

“Well, that’s good,” he said anyway, as he quite obviously reached for his jacket and keys. “Y’know what, honey? I think Backup could use some exercise, and I know I could.” He rolled his eyes as he encouraged the dog onto his feet - he was less than enthusiastic.

“You don’t have to go out because of me,” said Mac guiltily, though she was quite glad not to have to worry about anyone over-hearing her talk with Veronica.

“I’m not going out for you,” Keith assured her as he put the leash on Backup and moved toward the door. “I’m going out for me,” he said definitely. “You know I only get upset when you girls start arguing over which Backstreet Boy is cuter,” he joked with a grin before he left.

“Your dad is so sweet,” said Mac as Veronica got them both a bottle of water from the fridge and tossed one into her friend’s hands.

“Yup.” The blonde nodded once. “But he’s not the guy you’re here to talk about, right?”

The pair flopped down simultaneously into the couch cushions and Mac sighed. She really wasn’t sure where to begin. She wanted Veronica’s advice on everything that was happening in her life, and yet at the same time, she knew however her friend would handle it was so not how she would behave herself. They were good friends, like sisters even, but they were not so similar in their ways in such instances.

“So, how was your internship?” she asked, not purely delaying tactics, since she was genuinely interested.

Veronica thought about calling her on it, but reasoned maybe it was best to let her spill the facts in her own time. Besides, she did kind of want to share her experience with her friend. Her Dad was really only interested in the FBI angle, whereas Mac would listen when it came to friends she made and guys she’d seen in a whole different way. Later they would get onto Dick and the baby, for now Mac was happy to let that go for a few hours, and it seemed Veronica was willing to let her do it.

* * *

“But he was cool?” asked Mac with a giggle that wasn’t quite normal for her, but she just couldn’t help it.

“He was,” Veronica agreed, speaking of a cute guy she had met at the FBI who had been very sweet and helpful to her, despite knowing she had a boyfriend to go home too. “But it was strictly a friend thing, almost like a brother actually, only a little too hot for that.” She smiled as she thought of him. “And speaking of guys in our lives...” she prompted Mac who ducked her face behind her hair. “C’mon, Mac we had to get back around to Dick eventually. Are things that bad?”

Mac shook her head then, making a big deal about recapping her water bottle and reaching to put it on the table. She wasn’t sure what bothered her more, telling Veronica that she and Dick were friends, or being called a fool if she dared admit how much she really liked spending time with him these days.

“Actually, things are good,” she told her friend honestly. “And I know this is gonna sound crazy, because... well, it’s Dick Casablancas that I’m talking about, but Veronica, I really like him,” she admitted, hardly even sure herself how it had happened.

A couple of years ago, hell, even six months ago, there was no way in the world that Mac would have been pairing herself up with Dick. If anybody else had suggested it she would have been thinking of having them committed to the nearest insane asylum, and yet now, she couldn’t imagine being without him around. He could make her laugh and other times make her want to cry, either for herself or for his own sake. A guy that could make her feel so much so often could not just be a spare part in her life, not even a random friend. He meant more than that, however strange it seemed.

“Mac,” said Veronica carefully, with that look that her friend recognised and wished she didn’t.

“You’re about to say something awkward that I might not like,” she noted.

Veronica didn’t deny it, just ploughed on through.

“Seriously, I think it’s great that you and Dick are getting along,” she said honestly, “but I just wonder if you leaning on him has turned into something... I mean, and please don’t take this the wrong way but, is it just the hormones talking?” she checked, ever mindful of offending the friend that meant so much to her.

“Honestly? I wondered that myself. I mean, Dick is cute and I guess I have been leaning some,” she admitted, “but it’s more than that, I’m sure it’s more than that.”

Veronica couldn’t argue with what Mac said she was feeling. Only the person falling knew it was happening, and even then it wasn’t always clear. There was no way the PI could pinpoint when she had fallen in love with Logan. A part of her wondered if the spark had been there from Day One, when they were only twelve years old. Other times she wondered if it was losing Lilly, and the animosity between them was just guilt over misguided passion. She never did consider that she might never have loved him at all, because she knew that simply wouldn’t be true.

“You know what’s weird?” she said then with a heavy sigh as she looked back at Mac. “You actually sound more sure about Dick than I feel about Piz right now.”

Mac wasn’t sure what to say to that. On the one hand, she felt bad for Piz if he was going to get dumped, because he really was a very decent guy; on the other, she truly believed that Logan and Veronica were made for each other, despite their ups and downs. She had long suspected that her friend getting with Piz was kind of a rebound thing, though she had never suggested it. It seemed wrong and as if she were accusing Veronica of something bad, when in reality she just felt awful for both her and Logan.

“You haven’t seen Piz since you got back, have you?” she checked.

“Nope,” Veronica confirmed, popping the p, and shaking her head for good measure as she reached for her water. “I want to, kind of, and then I think if I see him, I’m just... I’m not going to know how to be with him right now,” she tried in vain to explain. “Like when we were at Hearst before the summer, it was easy, and I knew we had to be apart and I thought it’d hurt, but it didn’t so much.” She sighed once more. “Mac, I feel like a horrible person,” she whined, pushing her face into the couch cushions to hide it.

“Veronica, you know what you’d tell me in this situation,” her friend told her, giving the advice anyway as the blonde peered at her with the one eye not squashed into the couch. “You’d say you’ve got to do what’s right for you, and if it’s not Piz then it’s better to tell him now than to string him along and hurt him worse later.”

The one visible green eye blinked and then became two as Veronica righted herself in her seat and sighed heavily.

“Damn me and my logical advice,” she huffed, making Mac smile in spite of how glum her friend looked. “I know you’re right though... or I’m right? Whatever.” She shook her head. “I know I have to tell Piz that I don’t love him enough to be with him, preferably before school starts up again.” She sighed.

“So...” Mac said thoughtfully, without actually looking at Veronica right now. “Does this mean you and Logan might be...?”

“I’m going to stop you right there before you go any further with that line of questioning, Miss Mackenzie,” the blonde cut in, her tone joking but her words quite serious. “On that subject, I’m pleading the fifth,” she declared as she picked up her now empty water bottle and took it to the kitchen to throw in the recycling.

Mac got up and followed, not willing to let go so easily. After all, Veronica had insisted she confess all about Dick, it wasn’t exactly fair for her to be so dismissive of a major topic such as Logan Echolls role in her life. As it turned out, perhaps Veronica wasn’t being quite so full of avoidance as it first appeared, since the next words out of her mouth were still very much on topic.

“How is Logan?” she asked, as if it were a normal kind of a thing for an ex-girlfriend to ask, no more significant than the state of the weather perhaps.

“He’s fine,” Mac told her, pulling herself up on a stool by the counter, watching Veronica as she buzzed around the kitchen, perhaps seeking out a late snack. “I’m pretty sure he’s been keeping Dick sane these past few weeks, helping him act the right way for my sake.” She laughed lightly before turning serious a moment later. “but he’s not the same, not since... since you went way,” she admitted, almost thinking maybe she shouldn’t.

The fact was it was the truth, and Veronica had asked the question. She wanted to know how Logan was and the fact of the matter was he was far from his usually bubbly and sarcastic self. He was too quiet, too introverted, too not Logan of late. If Mac had noticed the change it had to be obvious, since they hardly knew each other that well, even now.

“Do you think it’s my fault?” asked Veronica, her face full of guilt as she glanced back at her friend.

Mac shook her head in the negative.

“Not entirely,” she told her honestly. “I mean, you being done with him hurt him, but I do get how tough it as on you too, finding out what he did with Madison of all people,” she shuddered at the thought of Dick’s ex.

Veronica nodded her head thoughtfully. She had thought she made a valid point when she dumped Logan for sleeping with Madison, even more righteous in her actions when she ended their friendship over his beating up Piz. Unfortunately, these few weeks away in Virginia had given her a little perspective, a chance to do an awful lot of thinking. She had come to a definite decision on Piz, she knew that had to be over. She did love him, in a friendly sort of way, but she wasn’t in love with him and wondered if she could ever say for a moment that she truly had been.

Rebound – the word left a nasty taste in Veronica’s mouth just from her thinking it and yet she knew that was all Piz had really been. Logan moved on to Parker and she moved on to Piz. When he beat up on her guy, she saw red, perhaps because she knew deep down she was just a little pleased about it and hated herself for the feeling. Logan cared enough even after they were broken up to bust a guys ribs and face for something he might have done. Yeah, it was a dumb thing to do, but on some level it was incredibly heroic and romantic. When he did it again days later, taking down Gory Sorokin in the food court of Hearst despite being warned of his high level connection, all Veronica could do was smile.

“With me and Logan.” She sighed then. “I just... I honestly don’t know what’s gonna happen there. I mean, I really don’t,” she empathised, making a cutting-type motion with her hand.

“I wish I could help,” Mac replied with a sad smile that Veronica met with a braver version of her own.

“You can,” the blonde assured her. “Just, talk to me about something else for a few hours, and everything will be cool.” She smiled.

“I think we can do that,” agreed Mac. “So long as you don’t mind hearing about cold exam tables and my parents thoughts on children born out of wedlock.” She laughed lightly at how weird it sounded to say.

“Sounds great,” Veronica told her, chuckling too.

It was nice just to laugh right now, no matter the reasons why.


	15. Chapter 15

Love triangles were not good things, this Mac knew for sure, not least from her own experience of one. Dating ought to be straight-forward; meet a guy you like, go out on a date, get along really well, like each other a lot, get closer, and so on, and if things went south you got out as fast as you could. Unfortunately, nobody warns you that it isn’t always love, or that you might find yourself attracted to two different people at the same time, with no logical way of knowing which one to choose.

Mac had been there and done that, stuck between Bronson and Max, not knowing which way to turn. She never cheated, and of that she was proud, but she had a few thoughts unbefitting a steady girlfriend, or so she reckoned. Bronson was just the sweetest guy, but there was little she had in common with him. Max had seemed like the obvious choice, but ultimately they didn’t fit either.

Now Veronica was going through a similar drama, knowing she liked Piz and got along with him easily, and yet yearning for something more, something deeper. Mac was sure Veronica could never truly be happy with anyone but Logan, and from what Dick said the opposite was also true. They tried to date other people before – Logan and Hannah, Veronica and Duncan, then Logan and Parker, now Veronica and Piz – all relationships were doomed to failure when the possibility of the star-crossed lovers getting back together always existed. They were so ‘Romeo & Juliet’ it was almost funny, except it was a little too tragic for that.

Mac’s thoughts shifted back to Dick then as she picked up the sonogram picture from her nightstand and stared at it. She and Dick were having a baby, even now the very thought made her chuckle like there ought to be a punch line, but it was true and clearer now than ever.

Talking to Veronica about how things had changed between them these past few weeks made it all the more real to Mac. She had hardly noticed how close they had gotten until she started to describe the situation. Every story she had to tell had Dick in it somewhere and she found that wasn’t a bad or scary thing anymore. She liked having him around, had gotten used to his jokes and his smile, and his arms around her when she got upset or freaked out. He wasn’t a nuisance or a pain to her anymore; he wasn’t even just a useful crutch to lean on because Mac’s parents were supportive enough these days. In fact, Mac realised, she actually looked forward to seeing Dick and spending time with him, whether it was baby related or not.

It was quite a surprise for Cindy Mackenzie to realise just how deep her feelings for Dick Casablancas might run, and the whole revelation of her true emotions caused her to get up off her bed fast as if she’d been scalded by the covers. An idea in her head that she would never be able to explain if asked, Mac reached for her sweater and pulled it on, shoving the sonogram picture into her pocket as she left her room. She passed by her Mom in the kitchen and told her a hurried ‘see you later’ as she left the house, headed for the Neptune Grand.

* * *

Dick was bored and currently channel hopping around and around the 100+ channels available to him on the plasma screen of his hotel room. Logan had gone out, he didn’t know where to, but he’d gone and apparently wasn’t coming back for some time. Dick had vaguely considered calling Mac but he only saw her yesterday and was just a little wary of crowding her. Besides things with them were weird lately; Mac was fast becoming what Dick could only describe as a best friend, and yet she was a chick so that kind of didn’t make sense to him.

There was just no one role in his head that Dick could assign to Cindy Mackenzie, except for his baby mama, and the one time he had called her that the look she shot his way guaranteed he never, ever said it again! They weren’t dating because they never slept together or even made out or anything, but they had to be more than just friends because he had slept with her and got her pregnant. She liked the stuff he liked, well, some of it anyway, the video games and some movies and even music. They could really talk to each other, which Dick hadn’t ever really had with anyone else, least of all a girl. It was the weirdest thing.

Realising that in his puzzling out, he had come to be watching a third time re-run of something on the food channel about candy, Dick turned off the TV and dropped back into the couch cushions with a sigh. He never used to think this hard about anything, and trying now was giving him a headache. It just didn’t make sense to him how he could be so oddly comfortable around Mac, and yet trying to figure out why that was seemed tougher than passing calculus all over again, without the opportunity to cheat!

A tap on the door made Dick take his hands off his face where they had been. He stared at the ceiling a second, wondering who could possibly be there, since Logan had a key card and he hadn’t order room service yet. It felt strange when he got up, something in his stomach flipping like a weird sort of excitement when the thought crossed his mind that it might be Mac. Maybe she was his best friend after all, because maybe he was turning into a girl, Dick considered with a grimace, right before he opened the door.

“Mac Attack!” he greeted her with the usual grin, despite the swirling thoughts he’d been having about her just moments before.

He was a little concerned that she wasn’t so much smiling back but looking altogether too serious about something.

“Hey,” she waved a little as he moved aside to let her in. “I, er... I brought you this,” she explained, without really looking at him, forcing a picture into his hand.

Dick closed the door and then looked down at the photograph, and immediately realised what it was; a sonogram picture. It wasn’t as if it really looked like a baby at all, just an odd blobby shape that could be a dozen different things depending on which way up you held the picture.

“Wow, that’s...” he started to say, really not sure what word was meant to come next.

Mac didn’t seem to want to help him out or even giggle in that pretty way she did sometimes when he made an idiot of himself in front of her. She was still standing there with her back to him, not having gotten any further than dumping her purse on the couch. He wondered why she wasn’t sitting or talking or anything.

“You okay?” he asked, genuinely concerned as he reached a hand to her shoulder.

She started at the touch and turned to look at him.

“I’m fine,” she told him, with a nod of her head, and he might’ve believed her except for the fact she was visibly shaking. “I just... I feel kinda stupid,” she admitted with a nervous laugh.

“Yeah, right,” scoffed Dick, as he moved to put the picture she’d given him on the table. “Like out of the two of us, you would be the stupid-”

He got no further with whatever he was going to say as he turned back around and suddenly found his arms full of Mac, her lips crashing into his. It was perhaps the last thing he ever expected to happen, but there was no way in hell Dick was going to argue.

He’d been here before, though the last time decidedly drunk. It had felt incredible when he and Mac had been together under the influence and kissing her now was no less intense and hot, until suddenly she stopped.

Mac remained in Dick’s arms, breathing heavily as her brain seemed to realise what her body was doing. She was so sure she wanted to do this when she headed over here, and then actually facing the man she wanted to do it with, nerves almost got the better of her. She liked Dick a lot, and she wanted to see what that really meant. She needed to know if the night they spent together had really felt as good as she remembered, and if the way she was starting to feel about him really meant what she thought.

Kissing him to see what happened seemed like a plan, and it certainly had felt as good as she thought she remembered. Her heart pounded and her toes curled up, as a delicious shiver went down her spine just from the feel of his lips on hers, his hands at her waist, pulling her close and holding her there. Now he was looking at her, searching her face for an explanation as to why they were suddenly so close, and then why they had stopped.

“I’m sorry,” said Mac, feeling kind of dumb.

“Why?” he asked her immediately, neither of them moving out of their close hold yet.

“I... I don’t know,” she admitted with a shake of her head. “I just-”

This time it was Dick who initiated the kiss, cutting off her words that were not forthcoming anyway. Mac didn’t protest for a second, just let herself fall into a moment that she didn’t really want to end. It’d been too long since she felt like this, in fact, she wondered if anything had ever felt quite this intense. Maybe it was her pregnant state, maybe it was because Dick was different to any other guy she’d ever been with. All Mac knew for sure was that she was being set on fire from the inside by his kiss, by his hands on her skin as they crept inside her clothes.

For himself, Dick was a little surprised he’d slid into second base so easy, but he wasn’t about to argue the point. It was a very stupid man who turned down a hot woman who wanted to get it on. Of course, he didn’t really expect this to get as far as sex. Sure, it’d happened before, but they were very drunk then, and Mac probably wanted to wait and stuff like good girls were supposed to. This belief he held was perhaps why he was so surprised when she broke the kiss, only to take Dick’s hand in hers and tug him towards his own bedroom.

“You do know what this means, right?” she checked, feeling a little bashful all over again, at least until he answered her.

“That we’re gonna have sex?” he said, blunt as ever, his brain too fogged by what had been happening to be firing on all cylinders anyway.

“Dick.” She sighed, almost wishing she hadn’t started this when he didn’t seem to get it.

She wanted to tell him, but for once in her life, words failed her. Talking about feelings was never easy, to guys even less so. She feared making a fool of herself, even though she doubted she could. It was clear as day that Dick wanted her, and she wasn’t exactly asking him to profess undying love. She did need him to know how she felt though, to understand that this wasn’t just a release for her. Mac wanted to be close to Dick, was offering to give herself to him because she liked him that much. She hoped he figured it out and it seemed after a few moments of the cogs almost audibly turning in his head that he did.

“Yeah,” he said eventually. “Pretty sure I get it.” He smiled crookedly, knowing that sex was a big deal for Mac.

Girls like her didn’t just go jumping into bed with any guy that looked their way. Sure, she got really wasted and slept with him that one time, but even he knew that was a moment of madness for her. He wasn’t hurt by the idea, he just knew it was true and dealt with it in his mind. Now she really wanted to do this, for real, because she had those feelings girls always talked about. He wasn’t about to admit such a thing, but Dick was pretty sure he was having a few deep emotions of his own. Right now it seemed easier to focus on the sex.

“Okay.” She nodded in response to his apparent understanding, moving to kiss him again, but surprisingly he stopped her this time.

“Um... I never did it with a pregnant chick before,” he told her. “Well, that I know about,” he amended. “It’s cool, right? ‘Cause I don’t wanna... poke the kid in the eye or whatever.”

Mac stifled a laugh rather badly at the strange imagery and Dick’s apparent lack of education. For a guy that was so well practised when it came to the actual act of sex itself, he knew Jack about pregnancy or the logistical inner workings of the female body.

“It’s fine, Dick,” she promised him with a smile she hoped he took as a good thing and not her laughing at him. “Just... be gentle, okay?” she advised, feeling a little silly having to say it, like she ought to be in a bad romance novel or a very old movie.

He only nodded then, before capturing her lips with his own and practically carrying her to his bed.

This was not how either Mac or Dick had planned to spend their afternoon, and for so many reasons was probably not the most sensible thing they ever did. Still, right now neither could imagine regretting this as they closed the door on the world outside and knew nothing but each other in the best possible way.


	16. Chapter 16

“I am so sorry, Piz.”

It had to be the seventeenth time Veronica had apologised since arriving at her boyfriend’s place, or actually that should be ex-boyfriend at this point, since she had just completed the well-known but much feared dumping speech.

Veronica had done her best to avoid all pointless clichés. The words ‘It’s not you, it’s me’ had never passed her lips, though they were sorely tempted to. After all, she really couldn’t blame Piz for their relationship failing. In a lot of ways it had been doomed from the start, though she had refused to believe it until very recently. She just wasn’t in the right place for a new relationship, and a part of her wondered if she ever would be. Logan seemed to be the love of her life, no matter how much she wished it to be untrue. That meant Piz or any other guy, no matter how devoted, sweet, and kind, was never going to measure up to Miss Mars standard.

“Yeah, I’m sorry too,” her latest ex sighed as he looked down at his hands in his lap, “but y’know, I can’t say I’m like super surprised,” he admitted.

“Ouch?” the blonde responded uncertainly, not really sure how to take his words at this point.

If he were angry at her she knew she would have to take it, after all, getting dumped was not nice for anyone, especially when they had done nothing to deserve said dumping. Still, she had hoped he would take it well, had banked on it in fact given what a decent guy he had always seemed to be since Day One of meeting at Hearst.

“It’s not... I mean, I kinda always thought I was dating you on borrowed time,” he explained, desperately seeking the right words so that this came out how he meant it to and in no way that could be misconstrued as insulting to this wonderful young woman that he still adored even as she dumped his ass. “Veronica, I’m not blind. Love is, but I’m not,” he explained. “See, me and you, it was good, and I was totally happy, but... you weren’t always there.”

Veronica frowned at that before answering;

“Well, I know I went to Virginia but-”

“No, that not what I meant,” Piz interrupted her. “Even when you were here with me, and this is totally not your fault,” he clarified, hands raised a little in some kind of surrender. “You just sometimes seemed like you’d rather be somewhere else... or maybe, with someone else?” he suggested with a knowing look.

He knew. Of course, he knew, and Veronica ought to have known that Piz wasn’t so very dumb. He could see what she couldn’t, that he was being used, not deliberately, but she was still guilty of doing it. She loved Logan more, even though she wished she didn’t, and there was no way to get around that.

“I can’t say you’re entirely wrong,” she admitted then, never quite managing to meet his eyes. “I don’t know why I’m such a total train wreck when it comes to guys and relationships.” She laughed humourlessly. “I mean, you should be my ideal boyfriend. You’re smart, you’re good looking, you make me laugh.” She smiled, making herself look up then and meet his gaze.

“I know, I’m awesome,” he joked, though the humour was thin and there was obvious pain in his eyes. “But that’s not what you need, Veronica. You can’t love me enough, and I pretty much knew that from the get go,” he admitted. “I guess I was just pinning a little false hope on the fact that you might change your mind somehow.”

“Believe me, I wish I could.” She sighed. “Life would be way, way simpler if I could love you more, but...”

“But you don’t, and that’s okay.” He shrugged as if it were no big deal, as if she’d just said she watched his favourite movie and found it utterly boring, but they both knew it wasn’t that simple.

She was hurting him, even now as she told him how great he was, it was like a knife in his heart and Veronica hated that almost as much as Piz did. He was the most decent guy she knew, with the possible exception of Wallace, and he ought to be the man she devoted herself to. He was everything she could want and yet she could not love him, not enough, not like you needed to love a person to be fully committed to them. There was only one person she was ever really going to feel that way about, and it seemed so obvious to her now that they both knew who that was.

“I’m such an idiot,” she declared whole-heartedly, though honestly she wasn’t sure exactly what she was talking about.

She had been a fool expecting to be able to get over Logan so easily and an even bigger moron perhaps for thinking she really loved Piz enough for things to work out with him. She knew it before today, it was why she was here telling her boyfriend they had to be over. Still, it hit her full force, right between the eyes as Piz seemed to be telling her that he’d had this figured out from the start.

“You’re not so stupid, Veronica,” he assured her, and it killed her inside that he was still trying to be nice to her even after she dumped him. “A little blind maybe, but that’s not a crime.”

“It should be.” She sighed heavily, as she looked across at him. “Not to start up a pity ditty, but I just feel like I screw up one relationship after another, and not just with guys, with everybody.” She shook her head.

“Come on, you have a ton of friends.” He rolled his eyes at her crazy negativity. “I mean there’s Wallace and Mac and...”

Veronica loved that he would make an effort, but after just two names they both knew the list was going to stall. She couldn’t call Parker a friend since the disastrous way she and Logan broke up. Dick was really only a part of her life through Logan and lately Mac, and there really wasn’t anybody else. Lilly was dead, Duncan was long gone, along with Troy, Gina, poor Meg, a whole long list of people she had cared about in some form or other, all gone from her life.

“Oh, and, er, that Weevil guy,” said Piz suddenly, snapping his fingers. “He’s like your hombre, right?”

Veronica let out an odd spasm of laughter at the phrasing but nodded her head anyway.

“Yes, he’s a friend,” she admitted, “but the list is short and a lot of it is my fault... or it feels that way sometimes.” She sighed. “You know, Piz, and I totally understand if it’ll be too weird for you but... well, I’d like for you and I to be friends,” she told him, expecting the wince she got at that comment. “Yeah, thought not.”

“No, Veronica,” he reached for her hand the moment she tried to get up and walk out. “It’s not... its not that I don’t want us to be friends, because I do,” he promised her. “It’s just gonna take some time, getting over you,” he told her honestly.

Veronica was flattered, of course she was, and she understood entirely. She only wished she had never let Piz become more than a friend in the first place. Wallace had been right all along, it was wrong to play on his feelings when she couldn’t really return them. Like most lessons in Veronica’s life, this was another to be learnt the hard way.

* * *

Mac felt strangely calm and yet giddy at the same time, lying here in the arms of Dick Casablancas after their second time of having sex. To be fair, she had very hazy memories of the first time and had assumed that her subconscious had grossly exaggerated the heated passion and mind-blowing ecstasy whenever she dreamt about that one drunken night. Apparently she was wrong about that.

Today had proven one thing above all others - Dick knew how to make a woman feel good. Of course, the whole point of today wasn’t just for Mac to have proof of his bedroom skills, far from it in fact. The more she thought on their odd and undefined relationship, the more she came to realise how much she really liked him. She enjoyed his company and wanted him around all the time. Talking to Veronica about it made her more sure on one level and yet on another less certain.

Pregnant lady hormones had a habit of causing all kinds of mixed emotions; crying for the dumbest reasons, hissy fits at the slightest thing, the ability to get turned on by the merest thought of anything sexy. It made Mac start to wonder if that’s all her feelings for Dick really consisted of, just a strange friendship and imbalanced hormones playing off his cute factor of ten. She had figured the best way was to just come over here and lay it on the line, tell him what she was feeling, show him if necessary, and see where they went from there.

She really hadn’t planned to go this far. A kiss perhaps, a little making out, just to see if it felt right. All of a sudden they’d been stumbling towards the bedroom and Mac realised it was her doing all the running. She was practically asking Dick to take her, and though he willingly accepted, he was as good as his word when it came to being careful with her fragile self.

They had passion aplenty, no doubts about that, but Mac at least felt like she was participating in this, like it mattered she was here. Dick had slept with so many women, and she knew for a fact that most of them had just been a body to make it with for Dick. They were nameless, faceless bimbos that he could hardly remember by morning, and perhaps knowing that was the way he had always behaved made Mac a fool for willingly being taken to his bed like this. Still, she would disagree with that, especially now as they lay here together, both trying to get their breath back after the exertion of the afternoons activities.

Honestly, the only person more overwhelmed than Mac by what had to be the best sex she ever had, was the guy she had experienced it with. Dick was more than a little confused as he lay there staring at the ceiling, one arm around Mac’s shoulders and her head on his chest. Something weird had happened here today, something he really hadn’t expected. Not that having sex with Mac was weird, hell, they’d done it before, and she was totally hot and everything, so why not? The weird was how it had felt, how he had behaved without really processing what he was doing.

Usually Dick wasn’t much of a giver, and sex for him was about getting from A to B the best way that worked for him. Sure, you had to give the girl something or she didn’t wanna play the game, but he got away with being as greedy as he could usually. With Mac it was just different. These past few weeks, spending time with her, he had so wanted to help her, be there for her, give her whatever she wanted or needed. It hadn’t occurred to him to want to do that here, but it was what had happened.

Dick wasn’t a complete idiot. He knew that for Mac sex wasn’t just something you did with anybody. She was one of those good girls that believed you had to be pretty much committed to someone, in love maybe, before you went that far. Their drunken one night stand notwithstanding, he was sure he had her philosophy figured out, which meant today was a very big deal for her. She wanted to know he was committed to her, and usually when a chick asked for any kind of promise from Dick he ran a mile... unless it was to never tell her boyfriend what they’d done together. It was almost scary how much he wanted her to feel good, as much as himself. As far as he could tell, objective achieved on both counts.

As Dick’s brain finally caught up with his body, and the humming and buzzing of electrical pulses through his form finally settled some, he remembered something important. Glancing down at Mac, he tried to meet her eyes and barely managed it as she hid partially behind her hair.

“So, you’re okay, right?” he asked her.

“Oh, yeah,” she told him definitely, blushing just a little as he stared at her. “I mean, I don’t know how well I’m gonna walk later but... yeah, I’m good,” she assured him.

“Yes, you are,” he confirmed, his meaning a little different to hers as he leant down to kiss her lips. “but y’know I was talking about... y’know with the baby and everything,” he made a random gesture with his free hand and Mac caught on then.

“It’s fine, Dick, I swear,” she promised him, feeling stupidly tearful.

This whole thing had been beyond beautiful, and now he was being so adorably sweet. What self respecting woman wouldn’t cry at that?

“I just... I’m a little over-awed,” she admitted then, causing a grin on Dick’s face a mile wide.

“I get that a lot,” he said cockily, at least until Mac sat up very suddenly in the bed, pulling out of his grasp.

It was really only a matter of time before he said the wrong thing, and Dick had pretty much known it wouldn’t take long. Sometimes his brain just went on vacation and left his big stupid mouth to flap open and say something completely inappropriate. With most girls, he wouldn’t even care if he offended them or said something dumb, not post-sex when he just wanted them out of his place already anyway. Mac was so different, in all kinds of ways, and the very last thing he wanted to do was piss her off, especially after what they’d just done.

“Mac,” he moved up behind her, putting a hand to her shoulder. “Babe, I so don’t think you’re just like all those other chicks I banged and forgot,” he told her.

It wasn’t exactly romantic but the sentiment beneath the awkward words was sweet enough, Mac supposed. She was pretty sure he ought to understand what a big deal today had been for her, she’d asked him before they started and he seemed to get it. Now she was panicking that she’d just made a fool out of herself.

“Then what am I, Dick?” she asked, peering over her shoulder at him. “I mean, I know we’re having this baby but I thought maybe there was more to it than that.”

Dick opened and closed his mouth three times with no sound making its way out. He hadn’t a clue what to say to her right now. ‘I love you’ would be a lie, since he couldn’t say he was definitely there yet, but he’d also meant what he said about her not just being another random lay he wanted to cast aside.

“You’re Mac,” he told her lamely and he knew it. “You’re cool and awesome and I want you around, like, all the time,” he tried to explain in words that didn’t come easy at all. “And it’s not just ‘cause I knocked you up or because of Beav or anything, it’s like... it’s like you’re different to all these other girls I know and, and if I had to choose between them and you, I’d pick you, okay?”

By the time Dick finished his awkward impromptu speech, Mac had tears streaming down both her cheeks. Sure, he wasn’t the most romantic guy in the world, his words were not exactly eloquent or poetic, but there was no doubting how honest he was being right now. 09er guys were known for the lies they told to get girls into bed, but Mac was already here, the deed was already done. If that was all Dick wanted, he could’ve blown her off in the last five minutes, instead of declaring everything short of love to her. She was above all other women in his estimations and that was incredible to the young woman who had been traded at birth, used and abused by her first real boyfriend, and behaved like a fool on the anniversary of that same guy’s suicide. Of all things, she actually almost felt like the unworthy one out of the two of them, and so overwhelmed by all Dick had just said to her.

With no words springing naturally to mind, she shifted closer to him on the bed, reaching a hand out to his face and pulled him in close enough to kiss. God only knew where they were going to go from here. There were a hundred questions still to be asked and answered on the road yet travelled, but this was as good a place as any to start.


	17. Chapter 17

Logan was beyond tired, but knew damn well he was never going to sleep. As if an afternoon spent with Trina wasn’t trying enough, all she seemed to want to talk about was her birth parents ad nauseum, and the always tricky subject of Veronica Mars.

As if Logan needed to spend anymore time distracted with thoughts of the ex he still wished wasn’t, Trina seemed to be quite happy to give her opinion on all things Veronica. This included, but was not limited to, the fact she really should’ve allowed her name to be used in The Aaron Echolls Story, and Logan being a complete ass for screwing things up with her. Each time he tried to change the subject, ‘little brother’ was told in no uncertain terms that he was a fool and that Veronica Mars was nothing less than an angel, apparently. As if he didn’t know all the good points about the blonde he had been in love with in some form or other since the age of twelve! His adoptive sister seemed oblivious to that right now, and only determined to go on and on at him, requiring merely nods of agreement from Logan whenever she looked his way.

It was now almost midnight, the journey home having taken longer than planned. How a car had dared to flip over on the freeway when Logan wanted to get home, he hadn’t an idea, but he had hoped that arriving back home at last with a large bucket of take out fried chicken and fries would make him feel better. It didn’t.

So far his appetite seemed absent and every time he considered getting his butt off the couch to go to bed he realised he would never sleep with so many thoughts swirling in his head. He had opened a beer and drank it down, followed by two more, not that it really made any difference. It took way more booze than that to get him drunk these days.

Running a tired hand over his face, Logan sighed. How had his life become this? Sitting alone in a hotel suite because he had no fixed address, with no girlfriend, hardly any friends either, and a best friend he was about to more-or-less lose thanks to his knocking a girl up and then falling for her. Dick was perhaps the only person with a more backwards love life than Logan, but at least the blond seemed happy.

As if on cue, Dick’s bedroom door opened then. Logan was just about to get up and fetch another beer for his friend when he realised the figure emerging into the suite was decidedly female.

“Oh.” Mac looked appropriately startled as she turned to find Logan staring at her, mouth open.

It was embarrassing enough that she had been caught coming out of Dick’s bedroom like this by his friend/room-mate, but to be seen in just her panties and one of Dick’s T-shirts made it all the more uncomfortable.

“Hey, Mac,” Logan tried to greet her normally and to keep his eyes on her face though it wasn’t exactly easy.

She was really more of a pants person than skirts, so Logan had no idea Mac had been hiding such a pair of legs all this time. Under the baggy T-shirt, a person could not tell she was pregnant at all, only curvy in all the right places. Logan would have to be blind not to notice she was hot, even Dick had said so, though focusing on it could not be good right now.

“Hi,” she answered, even now blushing furiously.

“I’m sorry, did I wake you?” asked Logan thoughtfully, wincing at the idea he had done such a thing.

“No, you didn’t,” she assured him. “Honestly, I wouldn’t’ve come out here like this if I’d known you were here.” She laughed nervously as she shifted from foot to foot by the door. “I got hungry is all. Pretty sure that’s what woke me up,” she admitted, smoothing her hair out with her hand as she caught sight of herself in the mirror on the other wall.

“Well, I’ve got enough here for at least four people,” said Logan, gesturing to the food spread out on the table that he had hardly touched. “Pretty sure there’s enough for you, me, and baby makes three.” He smiled.

Mac almost argued, saying she couldn’t possibly, especially the way she was dressed. The trouble was the food did smell good. Fries appealed, all greasy and salty, and though she had always been a vegetarian and even a vegan for a while, it was becoming clear the baby wasn’t either of those things. Mac was practically salivating as she moved closer to the couch and the smell of chicken hit her nose. It was too much to resist, and pushing all thoughts of cute little chicks from her mind she sat herself down on the other end of the couch, tugging the T-shirt she was wearing down as far as it would go.

Logan smiled at how awkward she was. Feeling a little bad for her, he went and fetched a blanket from the closet full of clean linen. Mac was grateful and it showed on her face as she accepted the covering with thanks, and curled herself up in the cushions underneath the soft fabric.

They ate in silence to begin with, Logan separating out the food and encouraging Mac to tuck in, which she did with vigour. Of course they could only go so long without speaking, without him wondering or asking questions about her being here so late and undressed in such a way.

“So, you and Dick,” he said, barely glancing at her to save her blushes more than his. “I didn’t know you were-”

“We’re not,” Mac cut in immediately, until she caught the look of disbelief on Logan’s features. “Well, we weren’t,” she amended. “Not until today, and then it kinda just happened and... y’know, I actually have no regrets.” She smiled, feeling a little foolish explaining this, especially to Logan, but then he was the only one here and she did at least trust him not to laugh at her and to keep any secret she might tell.

“You might actually be the first girl to say that after sleeping with Dick,” he commented easily, not even thinking how it might sound to her.

“That’s not a nice thing to say about your best friend.” She frowned a little in response, though if she’d thought about it more than a second, Mac might’ve realised the truth of it.

“Unfortunately, the truth rarely is,” Logan noted, pulling apart a chicken wing and licking the grease off his fingers. “But then they all dated the old Dick. You got the new improved model,” he explained, popping a piece of meat into his mouth.

Mac stared at him a long moment, looking very serious, before she finally spoke.

“You think I’ve changed him?” she checked. “In a bad way?”

Logan had to wonder where she got that impression from. She had to have noticed herself that the father of her child had evolved a lot these past few weeks. Mind you, as he understood it, pregnant women worried about just about everything when their hormones went crazy and all. He didn’t want her thinking she had made Dick a worse human being or a less good friend, because that wasn’t the case at all.

“Changed him? Yes,” he confirmed, around is mouthful of food. “Bad way? No,” he assured her as he swallowed, and wiped his mouth and fingers on a paper napkin. “I mean, Dick was always a good guy, a good friend and everything, but not big with the taking responsibility,” he explained, eyes flitting to his friend’s bedroom door, just a little wary of having him walk in while they were talking about him. “Now he has to be a man and everything, and he’s really stepping up to the plate.” He smiled almost proud of his friend that had been more like a brother recently. “You might just be the making of the man, Miss Mackenzie,” he told her, somewhat amused by the way she coloured at the comment.

Mac didn’t really take compliments well, especially not from guys, she just wasn’t used to them. Of course that didn’t change the fact that Logan meant what he said. Being around her was making Dick a better man, and he wondered if it all had to do with the baby at this point. He seemed to be making a real commitment to Mac as a woman too, and that couldn’t be a bad thing at all.

“You ever think a good woman will be the making of you, Logan?”

That question got his attention and no mistake. Mac hadn’t meant to shock him, she wasn’t even entirely certain the question was supposed to exist outside of her own head, but there it was, out in the room now and no going back. The look in Logan’s eyes was surprise at first and a little pain before understanding crept in. They both knew that neither of them were thinking hypothetically of some random woman. There was only that sprung to mind in the moment.

“How is Veronica?” he asked, trying not to seem desperate to know, which Mac had to admit he did pretty well given the circumstances.

“She’s good.” Mac nodded. “Mostly, anyway. I think she was going to see Piz today,” she admitted, watching to see how Logan took that news.

“Good old reliable Piz,” he muttered, tossing his balled up napkin into the pile of trash already on the table and throwing himself back into the couch cushions a moment later.

Mac half considered telling him they weren’t exactly going on a happy date or anything, but then thought better of it. She was venturing into territory that was really none of her business, and it was likely neither Veronica nor Logan would thank her for it.

“Reliable’s nice,” she said instead, smiling as he glanced over at her, “but it’s not everything,” she told him, just a little cryptically, though she did hope he understood.

Whether he did or not became irrelevant as someone moved behind them, and both turned to see Dick now framed in his bedroom doorway.

“Hey, Echolls,” he said to his friend, with expression of faux-annoyance. “Are you tryin’ to steal my woman?”

He looked and sounded like some kind of John Wayne-esque cowboy as he mosied over to the couch, making Logan break out in a grin. He knew his friend was kidding, after all, even if the rest of the world had pretty much screwed them over, these two were like brothers and trusted each other implicitly.

“Your woman?” asked Mac with a mixture of shock and distaste evident n her tone as she peered up at him over the back of the couch. “Seriously? That’s what you think you’re gonna call me now?”

Dick grinned then as he leant down close to her.

“How about, my sweet Macky?” he suggested as he moved in for a kiss and she happily obliged him.

Logan thought it was sweet, for all of thirty seconds. Then it just became awkward, uncomfortable, and a little gross.

“Get a room,” he told them with a smirk that was meant to cover the fact he actually kind of loved seeing the couple so happy.

“Got one, bro,” Dick reminded him as he grabbed Mac’s hand and encouraged her off the couch and to follow him. “Headin’ back to it as of now.”

“Goodnight, Logan,” called Mac as she was returned to her rightful place and didn’t mind the fact the room or bed in question belonged to Dick.

“Goodnight,” the young man left behind echoed, laughing hollowly. “I wish it was a good night,” he said to himself then as he tossed the food he had been about to put into his mouth back into the container.

He wasn’t hungry, and seeing a happy couple like Mac and Dick had become only made him lose his appetite all the more. It wasn’t their fault and honestly he was pleased for them, it was only that their togetherness reminded him altogether too much of how alone he was.

Right now it was likely that Veronica and Piz were enjoying similar activities to their friends Mac and Dick, and that put a knot in Logan’s stomach that just wouldn’t shift. Torturing himself with it was ridiculous, but then that was what Veronica had done when it came to his own ‘affair’ with Madison Sinclair. He understood now what she was suffering. Even he had to admit, if only to himself, that his beating Piz to oblivion before the Summer was not all because of the camera that had filmed the two of them ‘getting acquainted’ and much more to do with the naked acts being performed.

Dumping the remainder of his mostly uneaten food into the trash, Logan headed to his room, hoping for sleep but not really expecting to get any when his mind was so full of thoughts.

* * *

Logan woke with a start as the doors to his room were unceremoniously flung open.

Sitting up in bed, he was surprised, but not exactly unpleasantly so, to see Veronica stood there at the foot of his bed, hands on her hips and eyes flashing anger. It was like the last time she came busting into his room, ready to tear his head off for beating on Piz, or any of the many other times she had decided he was the devil incarnate.

“Well, welcome back, Miss Mars,” he greeted her amiably though they both knew it was faked. “What did I do this time? I haven’t even seen you in months-”

“Don’t even try that with me Logan,” she snapped at him. “You know what you did.”

“No, I really don’t,” he said as he hopped out of bed, making use of his height advantage as they stepped towards each other. “So, why don’t you tell me?”

There was an extreme moment where nothing was said, green eyes vs green eyes, locked in an intense battle. She had something to say, she needed to just come out and say it, and so she did.

“You made me so in love with you, I don’t know how to stop,” she confessed, immediately launching herself into his arms.

The force was enough to almost knock Logan off his feet, but he didn’t complain. His swirling mind was as preoccupied as his lips and hands as he kissed the only woman he could ever love this much, carrying her the few necessary steps to his bed. It had been too long since he heard those words from her or felt this way. Making love with Veronica Mars was like nothing else in the world to Logan, having her back in his arms was Heaven itself as he drowned himself in this moment that he never wanted to end...

There was a resounding thud as Logan rolled over and straight out of bed, landing on the carpet with his limbs caught up in the linen, and more throbbing pain than had been caused by the landing. No, Veronica wasn’t here, and she didn’t love him anymore. It was all a dream... again.


	18. Chapter 18

Mac headed home late in the morning. Dick had offered to drive her but she had her own car anyway so she declined, thanking him for being so sweet anyway. There was a long lingering kiss at the door as she said goodbye for now and left. She felt just a little bad for telling a half-truth. A good part of the reason for not wanting to let her guy drive her back was so her parents didn’t know where she’d been or what she’d done. She shouldn’t be ashamed, honestly she wasn’t exactly that so much as she just couldn’t deal with the drama right now. As if her hormones weren’t making her feel emotional enough, between that and the night she spent with Dick, she really couldn’t handle a fight with her parents over ‘proper behaviour’ as well.

“Hey, sweetie,” Mrs Mackenzie smiled at her as she came in the door, abandoning her cleaning a moment. “Did you have fun with Veronica?” she asked her.

“It was a good night.” She nodded, telling no lies with her vague answer.

She had texted from the en-suite bathroom, not so much to hide that she was lying from Dick, but more so because the idea of contacting her mother from a guy’s bed disturbed her. Mac had vaguely considered the option of telling the truth but dismissed it pretty fast. There was no easy way to explain to her folks that she had got pregnant by a guy and then started to fall for him, and by text was not the way to do it anyway. Instead, she had said she was at Veronica’s apartment and would be staying the night, deciding the little white lie would be fine. It wasn’t as if her parents never told her any untruths, and one rather large one sprung easily to mind every time she gave the topic much thought.

Of course, with lies came cover stories, and Mac made quick work of getting away from her Mom and rushing to her bedroom. She needed to call Veronica as fast as she could, ensuring that if the topic ever came up, she knew to say Mac stayed at her place last night. Of course, that also meant explaining what happened with Dick, but she figured Veronica would understand. They were best friends after all, and if they couldn’t understand each other then no-one was going to get it... except maybe Wallace and he was still many miles away until next week.

Dialling the number, Mac was surprised when Veronica’s cell went to voicemail since the girl always tried her best to take a call if she possibly could. It wasn’t so very early in the morning so she doubted she would be sleeping, and couldn’t imagine even Veronica having gotten herself into trouble after just a couple of days back in Neptune.

A knock on the front door startled Mac from her thoughts and she was pretty sure her heart stopped as she had a horrible thought. Rushing to the bedroom door, she hurried out, knowing she was probably being crazy but also highly aware that if it was Veronica at the door and her mother answered, she was well and truly busted. Unfortunately for Mac, her brother scurried past her to the front door, despite her yelling after him not to dare. That only got her mother more suspiscious as she appeared from the kitchen and followed Ryan to the door, finding Veronica Mars on the other side.

“Excellent." Mac sighed as she stepped out of her room, knowing she may as well face the music already.

“Veronica?” Mrs Mackenzie said with evident confusion. “You can’t be missing Cindy already, she only just got home?”

The look on the blonde’s face was equal parts apologetic and mortified at what she’d done, though to be fair it was in no way her fault. Without being warned she was to be used as a cover story, there was simply no way for her to know that coming here was a no go right now. It was all just a case of very bad timing, that soon had Mac realising that lying about this stuff really just wasn’t worth it.

“Mom,” Mac began awkwardly, as she appeared at her side, “I, er... I wasn’t at Veronica’s place last night,” she admitted, feeling precisely ten years old in the space of a second. “I was with Dick.”

At that revelation there were two sets of wide eyes staring at Mac and she knew it too. Ryan was immediately sent back to his room as Veronica shifted uncomfortably in the doorway and then offered to go too.

“No, you don’t have to,” said Mac definitely, closing the front door so that Veronica wouldn’t make an easy escape.

To be honest, she kind of wanted her friend here with her right now, even if she probably was surprised by what she just heard, even if she was unlikely to wade into the mother-daughter argument that was no doubt about to begin. Mac waited for her Mom to speak again, but she didn’t. She walked away to the living room and sank down onto the couch, clearly overwhelmed.

“You know what has me so confused, Cindy?” she asked eventually as her daughter and Veronica followed on into the room. “Why you feel the need to lie to me?” she wanted to know as she looked up at her, with evident anger and hurt written all over her face. “I mean, what did we do so wrong that you want to keep telling us anything but the truth lately?”

“Like you know so much about the truth, Mom,” she said with an emphasis that Veronica could make sense of even if Mrs Mackenzie struggled. “Maybe if I wasn’t so worried about you and Dad going crazy at me for any little thing I do that’s less than perfect, then I wouldn’t have to keep secrets and tell lies,” she explained, with tears building in her eyes every second. “I’m not a little kid anymore, in fact I’m having one of my own. That means I can make my own choices and-”

“Whilst you live under this roof, young lady, you obey our rules,” her mother chimed in, perhaps the dumbest thing she could’ve said in the circumstances.

“Then I won’t live under your roof anymore,” snapped Cindy, perhaps a little too easily. “I’ve been waiting for years to get out anyway,” she ended much more quietly than she’d begun before storming off to her bedroom and slamming the door behind her.

Veronica looked from her friend to her Mom and back, opening and closing her mouth three times because she really hadn’t a clue what she was supposed to say or do next. Two women in tears, both of which were right in their own way about all of this, and neither that Veronica could really help right now. In the end, loyalty to her friend won out and she slipped past the older woman with her face in her hands to chase after Mac.

Tapping on the bedroom door, Veronica didn’t wait for an answer before inching into the room, not at all surprised to find Mac face down on her bed, bawling. It seemed so ironic, such childish behaviour from a young woman who just told her mother she was an adult. Even Mac realised how dumb she was being, but she couldn’t help herself.

“Oh, Mac.” Veronica sighed as she sat down on the edge of the bed and reached out a hand to her friends shoulder. “I’m so sorry.”

“It’s not your fault.” She sniffed as she made herself sit up some and face the blonde that would comfort her. “It’s mine. It’s all my stupid fault,” she lamented, smashing her fist into the nearest pillow out of pure frustration. “It really wasn’t supposed to turn out this way, none of it was.”

“Including sleeping with Dick?” Veronica checked. “Again?”

Mac sniffed and looked away a moment, knowing she was blushing and hating it. She really didn’t regret being with Dick last night, but somehow the merest mention of sex could make her feel dumb and embarrassed at times.

“No,” she admitted. “That I actually meant to do,” she admitted. “And I know you think I’m crazy-”

“No, not crazy,” said her friend with a definite shake of her head. “Really not crazy at all,” she insisted when it seemed Mac wasn’t convinced. “I asked you before if you were sure about what you were doing, and clearly you are,” she told her. “I know you wouldn’t’ve gone that far if you weren’t really serious.”

“I did before.” She rolled her eyes at her own dumb behaviour, her hand going absently to her swelling belly.

“That was different,” Veronica reminded her. “And those kind of mistakes, you don’t make them twice,” she said, the voice of experience, as ever. “If you slept with Dick last night, I know it’s because you trust him, and whatever you guys are feeling for each other must be running pretty deep.”

Mac nodded her head at that, wiping old tears from her cheeks.

“It really is,” she admitted, finding a smile even she wasn’t expecting. “It’s not like either of us have dared to go near the big L word yet but... but we like each other a lot, we care about each other in this way that I can’t even describe,” she tried to explain. “I want him in my life, Veronica, and not just because of the baby, though honestly, I doubt we would’ve gotten this close without.”

“Oh, I don’t know.” Her friend shrugged. “Fate has weird ways of working out who is for who, regardless of how you get there.”

There was look that passed over Veronica’s face then that Mac was sure she read correctly. Someone for everyone, a perfect mate for each girl and boy in the world, it was a theory that a lot of people believed in. One thing was for sure, if such ideas were true, Veronica certainly had her match in the shape of Logan Echolls, a fact nobody could deny at this point.

“How’d it go with Piz?” asked Mac then, sure her friend’s love life was a safer topic right now than anything in her own life.

“Good,” she replied with a sigh. “If a break-up can ever be good. Honestly, he was so sweet about it I wanted to kill myself,” she said, running her hands over her face and hiding amongst her hair. “Oh, Mac. I was such a bitch using him that way.”

“You’re not a bitch, Veronica,” Mac promised her, putting a hand to her arm. “You just made a mistake is all.”

“When it comes to relationships, that is the story of my life.” She groaned as she peaked out from between her blonde locks. “Why am I a train-wreck?” she lamented so dramatically, Mac almost wanted to laugh.

“Don’t ask me,” she urged her. “I’m the girl who’s pregnant and falling in love with Dick ‘my surfboard hit me on the head this morning’ Casablancas,” she said, causing Veronica to laugh in spite of herself.

The two were in fits of giggles for all of five minutes before reality hit home. They both had serious life choices to make here. There were conversations to be had that would not be pretty and may not necessarily end well. Sometimes even people like Mac and Veronica, who hated Neptune High with a fiery passion, could easily wish themselves back into High School where things seemed just that little more dealable. Then they recalled bullies and bitches, murders and suicides, and thanked their lucky stars they’d made it this far in the first place.

* * *

“Will you wipe that stupid grin off your face?” Logan requested as he glanced from the TV screen to his friend. “You look like the Joker.”

Dick hadn’t stopped smiling all day long and even though his butt was getting kicked at Gears of War, the happy expression still wouldn’t shift.

“Dude, what can I say?” He shrugged, uncaring about his friends attitude. “I’m totally happy!” he declared without hesitation.

Logan knew he was being a real ass, ragging on Dick for being so happy in his love life, just because he wasn’t himself. If Veronica had really come home from the FBI and threw herself at him with words of love and adoration as in his dream last night, he’d be smiling too. Hell, he’d be doing the happiest of all happy dances, naked, in the middle of main street, but it wasn’t to be. It seemed where he was unlucky in love he was slightly more lucky with computer games today as Dick’s character was all but blown sky high, leaving Logan the rightful winner.

“Seriously, man,” he said as he tossed the controller on the table and Dick followed suit. “I think it’s cool that you and Mac are making things work. Y’know you could do a lot worse.”

“Man, I have done a lot worse,” the blond rolled his eyes. “Remember Madison?”

That comment was meant to be throwaway and yet hit a nerve as he ought to have known it would. Logan looked away, a pained expression on his face as Dick physically winced.

“Oops. Sorry, Logan,” he said seriously.

“Don’t worry about it,” he told his friend with forced smile. “Y’know you didn’t ask me to sleep with your ex, that was my own stupid mistake. I should’ve known better.” He sighed as he got to his feet and turned to walk away.

“Hey, you ever think maybe Ronnie will just, like, get over it and you guys will get back together?” asked Dick curiously.

Logan stopped walking but never turned back when he answered;

“Only in my dreams.”


	19. Chapter 19

It was a big decision, Mac knew that, but then she ought to be getting used to the fact that her life was going to consist of largely big decisions from now on. If she could find sense and reasoning enough to choose whether she would keep a baby, if she should sleep with Dick, surely she could figure out if she wanted to move out of her childhood home or not.

There were pros and cons, as there were with most things. The fact was, when she told her mother she wanted out, it had been said in anger and not entirely serious. Now she was calm, and still Mac wondered if it was such a crazy idea to go out into the world on her own. Raising a baby was going to be hard, even if Dick did stick around and she at least had some faith in him to do so right now. She didn’t want to alienate the only parents she had ever known, she just wasn’t that mad at them anymore, but Mac was also pretty sure she’d like to get out of here right about now.

Space of her own, for her and the child she was having, it made sense. She and her parents and little brother were already kind of crammed into this place, and it would only get worse. Ryan was getting older, he’d be a teenager before long, not wanting a screaming niece or nephew down the hall, and the baby would grow and need a room of his or her own. It made sense to Mac to make the break now, after all, it was what she always wanted, an escape.

College had meant living alone and that was fine. Of course, that was dealing with a room mate and campus accommodation, not quite the same as an apartment or a house for Mac to live in alone with a small child. It would be much more expensive, a lot more work, and potentially lonely unless... The thought occurred to Mac over and over that she didn’t have to be completely alone and destitute. Dick was the father of her baby and he cared about her, and she couldn’t help but recall how much money he had too. Of course, she didn’t just want him around for his cash, but if he wanted to be with her and their child, it would certainly help to have two of them chipping in for bills and all.

The prospect of not just moving into her own place but doing so with Dick only made Mac’s big step seem bigger and more scary, and yet somehow more exciting at the same time. A smile came to her lips at the idea of a perfect family scene; Mommy, Daddy, and baby. She never in a million years would’ve assigned the parent roles in the fairytale ending to herself and Dick, and honestly it was so very unlikely they would get a happily ever after here. Still, he wanted to try for her and she wanted to try too. The least she could do was talk to him about it, but before that Mac knew she was going to have to face her parents.

They couldn’t stop her from moving out if she wanted to. She was over eighteen, closer to twenty than anything else actually, and she had her own mind. The trouble was, they cared. Mac’s parents cared so much she feared she’d suffocate sometimes, though she couldn’t really blame them. Several times since finding out her true origins, Mac had wondered if the Mackenzies loved and cared for her so overly much in a bid to compensate for her not really being their daughter. Maybe it was that, or maybe they really did just love her that much. Whichever the reason, it meant hurting them to help herself, and Mac wasn’t sure she was totally comfortable with that. Her Mom was probably still crying after their spat, and that would mean her Dad was angry at her if he’d heard what happened. She kept on thinking and saying she was so grown up, now it seemed it was time to prove it as she got up from her bed and ventured out into the hall.

Mac found her parents separately, her father on the couch reading his newspaper, and her Mom she could see through the door in the kitchen. Maybe Dad didn’t know what had happened yet, but he was going to have to. This needed figuring out and it had to be now, before Mac over thought it all and lost her nerve.

“Hey, sweetheart,” her father greeted her with a smile around his paper. “How’re you doing today?”

“Pretty good.” She shrugged in response. “Actually... well, I kinda need to talk to you, both of you,” she amended as her Mom appeared in the doorway, still looking a little stung by what happened before. “I’m sorry I yelled at you, and for the lying, that wasn’t an adult thing to do, I know that,” she apologised.

Mrs Mackenzie nodded that she understood, a look passing between her and her husband when he heard the words his daughter spoke. It seemed there had been an upset but if it was all figured out now, no need for him to go wading in, dragging it all up again and making matters worse.

Encouraging her parents to share the couch and prepare for what she was about to say, Mac perched herself in the armchair and studied her own hands for a long moment.

“Honey, if you need to say something...” her dad prompted when she was quiet too long.

“I do,” she admitted, as she forced herself to meet their eyes. “I... I am sorry about the yelling and everything, it was dumb,” she said again, “but the fact is, I can’t deal here anymore,” she admitted. “I mean, I love that you care and that you’re being supportive. Believe me, I know a lot of parents that wouldn’t have been half so cool about it, but I need my own space to do this my way.”

There was a horrible silence then as both Mac’s mom and dad seemed to take in what she was saying and consider it carefully before they dare speak. On her part, Mac really didn’t want to have to say anything else until they answered what she’d said herself so far. She dreaded another argument, it was the last thing any of them needed right now, and yet understanding of such a move might be a little too much to ask.

“Okay,” said Mr Mackenzie at length. “Well, I see your point, honey, I do,” he told her, nodding his head. “But just financially, how do you think you’re going to cope alone, with a baby?”

“I have college money,” she reminded him. “I mean, it’s not like I can go back, at least not this semester and who knows how things will be after the baby comes?” she shrugged. “I’m just concentrating on one thing at a time right now, and I think the next thing has to be a place of my own.”

“I’m not sure about this.” Mrs Mackenzie shook her head. “I mean, living alone, and in your condition, I can’t see it’s a good idea.”

“Mom, I lived alone in college,” Mac pointed out carefully. “I know I had a dorm buddy but it was mostly like being alone, and I coped just fine.”

“She’s always been independent, Natalie,” her father cut in, even as he put a comforting arm around his wife’s shoulders. “This day was going to come soon enough, with or without a baby.”

Mac had to agree with that. If not for the fact she could escape to college more weeks out of the year than she needed to spend at home, she’d have moved out sooner. It wasn’t that she didn’t love her parents, given the circumstances that they were not in fact her biological Mom and Dad made her appreciate their love and kindness all the more, but she didn’t belong here, not really. She was so different to her parents and her brother, and since she’d had a new family thrust upon her like this, she figured this was as good a time as any to make a break and do things her own way.

“I can cope, honestly,” she told her parents with a smile. “And it’s not like I plan to move to the other side of the world, not even out of Neptune,” she promised them. “And I might not even be completely alone ...” she said carefully.

It was dangerous water to go into for more than one reason. She hadn’t spoken to Dick about this yet and there was nothing to say he would want to move in with her at all, just because they were closer than before. It was all still very new, despite the fact they were having a baby together. The genuine love-type part of their relationship had only really begun last night. Besides, it was probably a big enough shock for her folks to hear she wanted out. Telling them she was moving in with the guy that knocked her up only to then three months later become her boyfriend might be too much.

“It seems Cindy and Dick have grown closer since their... first encounter,” said Mrs Mackenzie awkwardly when she noted that her husband wouldn’t understand.

“Ah.” He nodded in response, watching his daughter flush pink. “Well, it can’t be a bad thing for this baby to have parents that care for each other,” he said with consideration. “Perhaps this whole situation might just work out for the best after all,” he said, ever the optimist it seemed, “but if you’re moving out, Cindy, with or without this boy to share your new home with, I have two conditions I need you to stick to.”

Mac nodded for him to go on, her voice stuck in her throat by now.

“First, you come visit me and your mom regular, before and after this child is born,” he insisted. “And second, we will help you pay for this new place of yours, no arguments you hear me?” he added fast, pointing a finger at Mac as if he were angry when she opened her mouth, and yet smiling widely by now.

“I love you, Dad,” declared Mac with tears in her eyes that she felt stupid for shedding, as she got up and went into his waiting arms for a hug.

It was crazy to think these were not her real parents, as she moved to hug her mother too. They loved her so much and that was amazing to her. So often she had wondered about contacting Mrs Sinclair, her birth mother, once again, especially when she found out she was pregnant. Now Mac wondered why the thought ever really crossed her mind. She was a Mackenzie, it was the name she used, and though she looked and acted kind of different to the rest of her family, she loved them so much. She couldn’t imagine ever calling anyone else Mom and Dad, especially right now in this moment.

* * *

“Here’s to you, V,” said Weevil as he clicked his coffee cup against her own. “This town’s been too quiet without you in it.”

“Thank you, but I’m sure you’re more than capable of picking up the slack for me.” Veronica smiled as she drank.

This was nice and normal, and a break from the emotional turmoil that she was dealing with where so many other men in her life were concerned. When she ran into Weevil on her way home from the store and he asked how she’d been and how her internship at the FBI had gone, Veronica immediately asked if he wanted to meet to catch up properly. Now here they were in Java the Hut, enjoying a caffeine hit and a friendly chat.

It was easy and comfortable with Weevil, they knew each other well enough now and neither judged based on where they came from or what they’d done in the past. They cared for each other as friends, with none of the baggage of deeper feelings. It was almost the way things were with Veronica and Wallace, except on some level she still felt the need to keep things hidden from her best bud sometimes, and besides he did tend to give her the kindly sugar-coated version of any truth she asked for. Weevil was decidedly straight-forward and sometimes that was just what a girl needed in a friend.

“So, how’s things, Weevil?” she asked him, leaning back in the comfortable chair. “Is your knee any better?”

“Can’t complain.” He shrugged. “I mean, I could, but what good would it do, right?” he smiled wryly. “Honestly, nothing much is different with me, same old, same old. Been working some for Uncle Angel 'til school starts up again and I can go back to the exciting job of cleaning up after you college kids,” he explained, with a smirk. “You gotta have a lot more interesting tales to tell than me.”

“I don’t know about that.” Veronica sighed. “I mean, the FBI was interesting and exciting, and I think I learnt a lot,” she told him. “Kinda missed this place though.”

“And it missed you, believe me,” her friend told her, a kind compliment but the truth none the less. “I’m, guessin’ your girl Mac is glad to have a friend home,” he noted and Veronica was just mildly surprised to realise he knew about that situation.

“Wow, good news really does travel fast.” She rolled her eyes. “Honestly, I’m happy if she’s happy, though I really, really wouldn’t have taken her and Dick for a couple.”

“Yeah, well,” said Weevil as he drank down a slug of coffee. “I never did get why you smart girls fall so hard for these rich white dudes.”

The look he shot Veronica over the rim of his mug said he meant just what she thought he was implying with those words.

“Excuse me, my last boyfriend may have been white but he was not rich,” she pointed out.

“I ain’t talkin’ about Placeholder Piz, V, and you know it,” replied Weevil, in all seriousness apparently. “Hey, wait a second, your last boyfriend was? You dump the kid already?” he checked with a frown.

So much for having no news to share, he had apparently missed the latest revelation in the Veronica Mars train-wreck of a love life!

Veronica opened her mouth to protest that she hadn’t a clue what he was talking about when he used the word ‘placeholder’ and that her dumping Piz was completely unrelated to anybody else, but it was a bare-faced lie and she knew it as well as her friend did. Weevil had a way of seeing through her and a knack for honesty that she admired. She could hardly be mad at him now for doing just what she loved him for. She laughed at how dumb the whole thing was, opening her mouth a moment later to speak but stopping fast when she realised Weevil was no longer paying attention to her.

“Well, isn’t this cosy?” said a voice she knew too well, and her head turned to look in the same direction as her coffee-buddy then.

“Logan,” she greeted him coolly. “We were just-”

“Hey, none of my business what you’re doing,” he said, holding his hands up in mock-surrender.

“You got that right, Opie,” Weevil told him. “So why don’t you run along while me and my woman here get back to our alone time, okay?” he suggested in a way that sounded more like an order than a request, as he shifted closer to Veronica on the couch and slung his arm around her shoulders.

Veronica could have argued, pushed him away, protested her innocence; she did none of those things. Honestly, she didn’t see why she should. Logan had no right to make comments about her friends or what she did with them. Hell, if she wanted to date Weevil she would, it’d still have nothing to do with the guy she dated two boyfriends ago. This is why she leaned into the ex-biker’s embrace all the more and picked up her coffee, sipping it without a care. When she bothered to look his way again, Logan was gone.

A sound akin to a growl emanated from her throat as she slammed her cup back down on the table.

“God, he is just so...! How is what I do any of his business?” she asked apparently rhetorically as she continued to rant, and Weevil moved away from her a little again before he got caught up in the fit she was pitching. “I swear, sometimes I think I was crazy for ever dating him!”

“Er, V?” her friend cut in when he was sure he wasn’t going to get hit for daring to speak. “Go after him,” he said, waving his hand in a ‘off you go’ sort of a gesture.

Veronica glanced to the door and back, frowning hard.

“Que?” she asked in astonishment at what she just heard. “Seriously, it sounded like you just told me to go after my ass of an ex who, hello, you hate.”

“What I think about the guy doesn’t matter.” He waved away her comment, finishing off his coffee all in one go and dumping the mug on the table. “If Echolls can still get you that hot under the collar just by standin’ there, then you ain’t over him,” he said easily as he leaned back against the cushions.

Veronica opened her mouth three times, each time meaning to argue with him, but every word caught in the back of her throat. He was right. She hated it, but Weevil was totally and unequivocally correct.

“Why must you always be right?” she asked with a smile she couldn’t hold in.

“What can I tell you, chica?” Weevil shrugged as he watched her scramble from her seat, throwing on her jacket and fastening her purse. “It’s all part of my charm.” He smirked.

“We will do this again,” she promised, momentarily turning back on her way to the door. “When I don’t have to run off and deal.”

“You got it.” He nodded, as she practically ran out of the place. “La chica es loca...” he muttered to himself then, before growing thoughtful, “but you can’t help who you fall in love with, right, Lil?” he said, turning his eyes heavenward.

With that, Weevil pulled himself to his feet, tossed some bills on the table, and left. This really wasn’t his kind of place anyway.


	20. Chapter 20

Mac wasn’t sure why she was shaking when she reached the suite door. A part of her was kind of giddy at the prospect of seeing Dick after their night together. Another part was nervous and apprehensive since their relationship had changed so much in the course of the past twenty-four hours, and then because of the subject she wanted to talk to him about as well. It wasn’t as if she was coming here to ask him to live with her, she was just going to tell him she planned to get a place of her own and gauge his reaction before making any further comments or requests.

It all sounded so simple in her head, and yet when Mac raised her hand to knock on the door, she found it was shaking more violently than ever. This was insane, she had nothing to be afraid of, perhaps a little to be excited about but that was all. Taking a deep breath, Mac braced herself and knocked at last, finding a smile when Dick opened the door and grinned at her.

“Hey, babe,” he greeted her easily, making Mac wonder what she had ever been worried about.

It sounded terrible, and she knew it, but somewhere in the back of her mind, she couldn’t help but let herself worry about how Dick could be with her when she saw him again. Last night had been so great, he had made it clear he cared about her genuinely, and was not just with her for sex or to pass the time until something better came along. She felt a kind of commitment had been made between them, but there was no real way to know if Dick felt that way too. There was this tiny chance he was going to laugh in her face today, tell her last night meant nothing more than a good lay, and that would most likely have broken her heart. The relief of realising that wasn’t going to happen was immense, as he leaned over and kissed her soundly on the lips.

“I kinda need to talk to you,” she said then, not really any more eager to end the kissing than Dick was, but it was necessary right now.

Making out was all well and good but if she let herself fall into a moment of passion, all rational thought was going to go out of her head and she had come here for a reason. Dick either wasn’t listening or was unphased by her words as he encouraged her towards his bedroom, his lips back on hers and his hands at her waist. It’d be so easy just to let it happen, but Mac had to be the grown-up here, once again.

“Dick, stop,” she urged him, so suddenly that he actually reeled back with his hands up in some kind of surrender.

Maybe he thought he hurt her or something, and that just made her feel bad for snapping. She hadn’t meant to, she just had to be firm with herself as well as him right now. There would be plenty of time for getting familiar again later. Right now there were serious life-changing things to talk about.

“You okay?” he checked as she sat down on the edge of the bed.

“Yes, I’m fine,” she promised him, reaching for his hand and pulling him down beside her. “I didn’t mean to make you think I wasn’t. It’s just... we really do need to talk, Dick.”

He nodded that he understood, though it was clear he was already panicking about what she was going to say. Dick was used to being the guy that dumped the girl, that had the serious conversation about how he didn’t do commitment and it totally wasn’t her fault but their night together was strictly one show only. Now it seemed almost as if he was about to be on the receiving end of it, even though he couldn’t imagine his sweet Macky being so cruel. She was the one who saw sex as a big deal, something Dick had been far and away from understanding, until last night. He had to admit, in his own head at least, it had been different, though he was pretty sure he’d turn into a girl if he had to say it out loud!

“Dick, I...” she began then, hardly able to meet his eyes.

Unfortunately his attention as well as hers was soon taken away from anything they might’ve said to each other as the main door to the suite opened and slammed shut a second later, arguing voices yelling loudly in the former silence.

“I already told, it was not a date!” came Veronica’s voice, loud and clear. “And even if it were, it could not be less of your business!”

“Oh yeah, so I’m just supposed to stand by while you fall for another loser that’ll break your heart?” asked Logan cuttingly and with just as much volume.

“Do you count yourself in those losers or should only Duncan and Piz be offended?” came the immediate and very angry reply.

Mac and Dick moved towards the bedroom door almost as one to listen in more easily, though honestly given the yelling and shouting, it would be a miracle if everyone on the floors above and below weren’t privy to the argument between the ex-couple too.

“We shouldn’t be listening,” Mac whispered, at which Dick balked.

“Like we have a choice,” he remarked, and she could hardly argue.

As it was, there was no way to avoid hearing, and neither was willing to walk out into the main room to announce their presence when Veronica and Logan were clearly more than a little mad.

Whoever Logan had seen Veronica not-out-on-a-date with was unclear as yet, but the fact he was jealous spoke volumes. Mac thought it had to mean plenty that Veronica had come after her ex like this too. If she was out with some other guy, date or not, it seemed strange she would abandon them to chase after Logan, unless she was feeling way more than she was willing to admit here.

In silence, Mac and Dick leaned closer to the door once again to see what they would hear next.

* * *

“Would you get over yourself!” Veronica yelled crossly as she threw her purse into the couch cushions with considerable force. “When are you going to get it, Logan? You don’t run my life!”

“No, but I thought I was at least allowed to care about you,” he countered from behind the furniture. “What do you expect me to do, Veronica? Just switch off whatever feelings I had for you? You of all people should know, it doesn’t work that way.”

“Why me of all people?” she wanted to know, reading the look on his face and immediately wishing she never asked. “Oh, no. Do not bring Duncan into this.”

“Why? Because you can’t deny I’m right?” he wanted to know. “You dumped me, Veronica, for a whole bunch of reasons, I know that,” he admitted, “but you can’t tell me one of them wasn’t because you wanted to try again with your precious first love.”

She couldn’t deny it, Veronica knew it would be a lie if she tried and she just hated that he was right. Dragging up their entire shared dating history was not going to help them resolve all this, but unfortunately if he was going to dig up some not-quite-buried hatchets, she was going to have to do the name.

“Well, you did a wonderful job of not caring about that,” she told him, folding her arms across her chest. “Tell me, how much did it thrill you that Dr Griffith’s daughter was blonde, perky, and petite?”

Logan shook his head in disbelief that she would bring up Hannah. Despite appearances and how his relationship with her had started, he had genuinely cared about her in the end. Having her shipped off to Vermont had stung, not half so much as any time he and Veronica had split up, but it still hurt. Well, if she was going for the low blows, two could always play.

“I don’t know, Veronica,” he said with an annoyingly sarcastic smirk. “How much of a thrill did you get out of making me your Duncan substitute for so long?”

“You know that is not why I started dating you,” she said, voice low and angry as pain stabbed at her heart. “I can’t believe you even said that to me.”

“And I can’t believe that every time things are good between us, you find some crazy excuse to end it!” he yelled back at her, a little sorry to see pain flash in her eyes, but not enough to apologise yet. “God, Veronica, we’ve been through so much, together and apart, but the minute things get close to serious, you find a reason to run to the hills!

“While you’re just finding a reason to sit on your ass, get drunk, and sleep with my worst enemies!” she countered, watching the look on Logan’s face shift to the same pain she was feeling.

They were both as bad as each other when it came to relationships, and just as nasty when it came to fights. They shouldn’t be doing this, it wasn’t helping anyone, both Veronica and Logan were all too aware of that, and yet backing down was not an option. Stubborn could be both their middle names and they seemed to be out to prove it this afternoon.

“We can’t keep doing this,” said Veronica with a heavy sigh, putting a hand to her aching head. “It’s like we’re on this merry-go-round of rotating knives where you say one thing and I say another, and we’re just cutting each other to shreds, and I can’t do it anymore,” she said, with tears that she hated to feel stinging in her eyes.

“How’d this happen, huh?” said Logan as he leant on the back of the couch looking across at her. “What happened to those kids that met at a girls soccer game?” he asked her with a smile he couldn’t help then.

A strange gurgle of strangled laughter escaped Veronica’s throat then as she saw the scene he spoke of so clearly in her mind’s eye. The first time she laid eyes on Logan Echolls she saw stars, and not the kind that you get in movies. His parents didn’t matter to her, neither did his money or his reputation. She was dazzled by a genuine smile and drawn in by a sarcastic sense of humour she could easily share. If not for Lilly and Duncan, well, there was every chance they’d have been dating a lot sooner. That might have saved some heartache, but then given the way she and Logan still fought to this day, maybe not.

“I’m so tired of fighting with you.” She sighed as she rounded the couch to meet him. “I just... I want things like they were, when we were friends, when I could trust you.”

“You can trust me,” he promised her, “and you know we could try friends again,” he said, putting a hand to her hair and pushing it over her shoulder.

“You think we can really make friends work this time?” she asked, looking up at him, her question not entirely what it seemed.

They knew they could never be friends, they tried it and it just didn’t work. He couldn’t stand to see her with Piz and truth be told, Veronica may never as got as far as dating him like she had if her ex hadn’t been with Parker. It was together or nothing, that was clear to both of them now, and nothing seemed like such a horrible prospect and a tragic waste, but could they really choose the other option?

* * *

Mac pushed her ear up against the door and strained to hear a sound. A deathly silence had fallen so suddenly she was beginning to worry. Looking to Dick, she leaned in closer to him to whisper.

“Do you think they killed each other?” she asked, not entirely serious, but unsure what other explanation to suggest.

“Either that or they’re...” replied Dick, making some gesture with his hands that had his girlfriend turning pink in an instant.

He chuckled at her reaction and then signalled for her to shush as he opened up the door just a crack and peeked out. Sure enough, there was his best bud Logan with his arms wrapped around Veronica’s smaller frame, practically lifting her off her feet as he kissed her senseless. Closing the door again in silence, Dick grinned widely at Mac.

“Totally making out, half way to crazy monkey sex,” he declared with a childish giggle as he dropped backwards onto his bed. “And that is not the worst plan I’ve heard today.” He winked, gesturing for Mac to come join him.

She didn’t move, instead holding her ground by the door and frowning.

“I don’t think Veronica is going to let that happen.” She shook her head. “There’s too much going on with the two of them that they need to figure out, she knows that.”

“Maybe.” Dick shrugged, pushing himself up to sit on the end of the bed and reaching a hand out to her. “C’mere,” he urged her, succeeding in pulling her into his lap, but the moment he moved in for a kiss she leant away.

“Dick, c’mon,” she told him. “I came here to talk to you, and it was important,” she reminded him.

“Oh yeah,” he recalled, kinda wishing he’d managed to get to kissing her again and take her mind off the boring talk they apparently needed to have.

Dick never did understand why girls liked talking so much. There were so many better ways to spend time, he didn’t get what the fascination was with conversation.

“So,” said Mac at length as she dropped off Dick’s lap and onto the bed beside him. “I kinda told my parents I was moving out and into my own place,” she explained, never actually looking at him the entire time. “And that does not mean I’m expecting you to wanna live with me or pay for an apartment or whatever,” she explained fast. “I just... I thought you should know my plans, what with the baby and everything...” she tailed off then as she made her eyes meet Dick’s own and tried desperately to read his reaction - it proved impossible.

“Huh,” said Dick, just about as smart as anything he ever said.

The truth was, it was maybe the last thing he had expected Mac to say. He thought she was going to dump him, or want to marry him, one extreme or the other that he wasn’t going to like. Living together, that actually might be cool. he could certainly get used to spending all his nights with a beautiful woman in his arms, and him and Mac got along so well, she was as good as a best friend as she was a girlfriend. Plus she was having his kid in a few months time, and he wasn’t going to want to be too far away from his son or daughter, as scary a thought as it still was that he would even have a child soon!

“That’s it, just ‘huh’?” asked Mac after a pause that went on too long for comfort.

“I dunno, babe.” He shrugged. “I mean, I never lived with a chick before but then I never had a kid either so... could work,” he considered.

“You’re serious?” Mac realised with a burst of laughter that was borne mostly out of happy surprise.

“Sure.” He smiled then. “I mean, when I was a kid, mostly I saw nannies, and my dad was never home, and I ended up taking care of Beav... when I wasn’t making his life hell.” He looked awkward a moment before shaking his blond head and carrying on. “Er, but basically, it kinda sucked, even with all the money, y’know?” He shrugged. “So I’m thinkin’, what a kid really wants is parents that stick together, and love, and stuff like that, right?”

“I guess so,” Mac agreed, with tears in her eyes that she truly couldn’t explain.

“Cool, then we’re gonna have Casa de Mackenzie/Casablancas,” he told her happily, glad of the hug and kiss his girlfriend happily gave him then.

The serious talk was done, the make out then took over, as Dick had hoped for from the start. That didn’t mean that he’d lied to get what he wanted, he truly did think they could make a cool couple in their own place together, even if it was going to be totally weird. It’d be the good kind of weird though, just like his whole relationship with Mac, and so far he loved how things were going, more than he ever imagined he could.


	21. Chapter 21

It occurred to Mac as she slipped out from under Dick’s arm and out of the bed, that maybe when they had this baby she was going to be doing the night feeds. He seemed to be able to sleep through a lot, not just her leaving him alone, but the thunder outside that had easily woken her. She would’ve stayed put, buried her head under the covers, and tried to ignore the storm, but the moment her eyes opened she knew she needed a drink of water and she was never going to be able to sleep again tonight if she didn’t get one.

The clock said just past two a.m. as she grabbed up Dick’s T-shirt from the floor and pulled it on. It covered everything vital, down just past her underwear, so if Logan happened to spot her it wouldn’t be the end of the world. It really hadn’t occurred to her that she might run across anyone else on her way to the fridge, and so it was hardly surprising that she was startled by another female presence.

“Geez, Veronica.” She laughed after she was done gasping with shock. “Lurk much?”

“I’m sorry, Mac,” she apologised though she couldn’t help but be a little amused.

Not only had her friends expression been priceless when she startled her, it was also completely crazy that they were both stood here together, dressed in nothing but their underwear and a T-shirt belonging to the man they were sleeping with.

“Wow, this is...” began Mac when she realised the very same thing.

“Awkward? Weird?” Veronica supplied as they hovered in the middle of the suite’s main room together.

“No, I was gonna go with ‘something we would have sworn could never happen as little as six months ago’,” she said eventually, making them both laugh once again.

It was a strange situation when they looked back. Neither of them had particularly liked Dick at any point in the their High School days and he barely improved in college. It was only very recently he had become the sweet person Mac had fallen so fast for. At the same time, Veronica’s relationship with Logan had been more bad than good in the past year, and she had completely given up on him when she left for the FBI internship, committing herself to Piz, it seemed. Apparently that wasn’t all as definite as it had once appeared since her boyfriend was dumped just a couple of days ago and already she was back in bed with her ex.

“You wanna judge me, I know you do.” The blonde sighed as she pushed her hair out of her face. “And I wouldn’t blame you, Mac, seriously-”

“Hey,” her friend interrupted. “How is it my place to judge anybody?” she asked seriously. “Hello!” she raised her hand. “Pregnant by Dick Casablancas on the first date, that was not even a date. I am hardly in a place where I can judge you for getting back together with your ex.”

“Yeah but two days after breaking up with Piz?” she winced at her own behaviour. “Not my finest hour.”

“Veronica.” Her friend sighed. “Y’know, you were never really with Piz, not in a serious way. I know you liked him and he really liked you but... was your heart ever really in it?”

There was no way Veronica could lie right now. Mac was completely right. Not that it excused the way she behaved, if anything it made it worse because saying this was true was admitting that she had kind of used her latest ex. Still, Veronica couldn’t deny it, it was what she had done, and it made her feel a little better about Logan at least. She had always loved him, deep down in her heart. If she were really truly honest, it was him from the start, before she even began things with Duncan. Though nothing ever happened when they were so young, not even a suggestion of a date or a kiss, she always felt something for Logan and she believed he knew it too and felt the same. They were destined and epic and all those things he’d said a couple of years ago at Alterna-Prom. Veronica wondered at this point why she had failed to believe in that for so long.

“I guess a part of me always new that it’d be me and Logan or flying solo for the rest of my life.” She made a gesture with her hand like an airplane and Mac smiled. “It’s crazy. He drives me crazy,” she amended, “but I can’t be without him, I just... I can’t.”

“Yeah, I’m starting to understand that feeling.” Her friend nodded, looking towards the bedroom she had been headed back to before. “Do you think I’m crazy?” she asked then.

“Crazy?” Veronica echoed. “No,” she confirmed with a shake of her head. “Brave and daring? Absolutely!” she added as she gestured for Mac to follow her and they rounded the couch to sit down together, pulling the throw over their legs to keep warm. “I know this whole pregnancy thing was not exactly a choice you made but you and Dick, you’re really making it work, and that’s amazing. You made a human being out of, well... I’m sorry but a jerk,” she said, mindful of how bad that might sound to anyone who hadn’t known the blond before.

Veronica was pretty sure Mac would get where she was coming from and not take offence. They had known each other a long time now, and trusted that each other understood where they were coming from, even when they said things that didn’t come out so well. There were no tears or tantrums, it was all good.

“I can’t believe how much Dick has changed.” Mac shook her head and smiled. “I mean, he’s still him, mostly. All the good parts are there but he’s just less... I don’t know how to describe it.” She laughed lightly as she thought about it. “There’s this sweet side not many people get to see, and he really cares about the baby... and me, I think,” she went on, fingers lacing and unlacing in her lap. “Y’know he said he wants to move in with me?”

“That’s great, Mac,” Veronica enthused, looking at least mostly genuine. “He should be supportive and I’m really pleased for you that things are working out, honestly.”

She was trying to be a friend and Mac knew it. Of course, she also knew that the cynical PI couldn’t quite believe in Dick the way she did herself. That was okay and completely understandable given the way he was before with both of them, as well as everybody else they knew. Given time, Veronica and the world would see that Dick wasn’t all bad or completely thoughtless. He’d had it tough too, despite being from one of the richer families in Neptune. His home was still broken, his life turned upside down just about as many times as Mac or Veronica could count in their own. He needed to be loved, to be wanted and needed in a way that Mac and this baby could provide for him. Together, they could be a family, albeit one that started in an unconventional way. There was a distinct possibility that this could all work out happily and just thinking about it brought tears to her eyes.

“Yeah so this keeps happening,” she said shakily as she fought the urge to cry and failed miserably. “Honestly, it’s only because I’m happy.”

Veronica reached out to her friend to give her a hug. She understood that pregnancy caused people to be emotional, though she could quite happily burst into tears herself. Things were changing a lot lately, but for the better it seemed, in the long term at least. Mac was finding happiness in her awkward situation with Dick, whilst Veronica herself was back with Logan at last. Sure, letting sex over-take the serious talk they needed to have maybe wasn’t the brightest of moves, but they still had time for that, all the time in the world, hopefully.

“Oh my!” Dick’s comment from the bedroom door caught both girls attention. “A little girl on girl action, huh?” he winked as Mac and Veronica both peered at him, still hugging each other in their relative states of undress.

“They started the show without me?” said Logan from the other door then, looking sleep-rumpled and cute as ever to his girlfriend. “That’s just not fair.”

“Why do we put up with these two, Q?” Veronica asked her friend with a smile and an eye-roll as they parted finally.

“I don’t know, Bond,” she joked right back. “I think there’s a four letter word that keeps rearing its ugly head.”

“Hey, no four-letter words in front of Dick,” said Logan as he came to stand behind Veronica, kissing the top of her head before she tilted it back to look up at him. “He’s too young and fragile for that kinda thing.”

His friend flipped him off as he came over to Mac and sat on the arm of the couch by her.

“You okay, babe?” he checked, not least because it looked as if she’d been crying or something, and that was never cool.

“Yeah, I was just thirsty and then we got to talking,” she explained, as she leaned into him. “Did the storm finally wake you?” she checked.

“Nah, me and Logan could sleep through, like, World War 3,” he told her, as if it were something to be proud of.

“Yeah, that’s gonna be real useful when you have a baby that cries in the night,” Veronica teased, though apparently Dick either wasn’t listening or didn’t get it.

“It’s useful if you’re the guy,” Logan pointed out as he reached for Veronica’s hand and encouraged her off the couch. “I finally got you back where I wanted you. How did you manage to escape?” he asked, in semi-seriousness as he all but dragged her back to the bedroom.

She went willingly, of course, but turned back just before the door. She almost thought better of speaking when she realised Mac and Dick were kissing and fast heading into Make-Out County, but this was important.

“Hey, Mac,” she called to her friend, as Logan sighed in annoyance at the interruption. “I’m going to the airport tomorrow to pick up Wallace since Alicia has to work. You wanna come with?” she offered.

“Sure, yeah.” Her friend smiled widely at the thought, just as soon as Dick let up on kissing her for two seconds. “I miss Wallace.”

“We should all go,” Dick spoke up then, surprising everyone and even causing Logan to reappear from the bedroom looking intrigued.

“Not that I have anything against Wallace, he’s a good guy, etc., etc.” he said with a pointed look at Veronica, “but why are we all going now?”

“Dude, mini road trip!” the blond enthused. “Like you need a bigger reason than that.”

Nobody argued, but honestly they still didn’t understand. The fact was Wallace and Logan got along, sometimes, when Logan wasn’t beating up Piz or making Veronica cry, but in all the years the group of friends has known each other, not one amongst them could recall Wallace and Dick even having a conversation!

“So, that’s going to be interesting,” said Veronica as she and Logan climbed back into his bed and he slipped an arm around her shoulders. “Wallace has a lot of big news coming his way.”

Logan couldn’t help but wonder if his girlfriend was just thinking of Mac and Dick and their baby at this point. It was probably best not to ask, but then it was not often that he ever did what was good for him...

“You think he’ll be happy we’re back together?” he asked, not even looking at the girl whose head was resting on his chest right now.

“Probably not.” She sighed. “And I can’t blame him, I mean, he keeps on helping me pick up the pieces when this thing goes wrong... and Piz is his friend too. Neither of us are going to popular for that one.”

“You didn’t love him, Veronica,” he reminded her. “That’s not your fault.”

“I know.” She nodded, shifting so she could look up at him then. “But he was safe and simple. I guess on some level I knew I wasn’t risking anything by being with him, because I didn’t really feel that way about him,” she explained. “It was okay because if it all fell apart, it wouldn’t hurt like it did when things went wrong with you.”

“I am so sorry, Veronica,” he told her again, maybe the fifth time tonight or more, they’d lost count somewhere as they both apologised for all that had gone wrong between them. “I want this to work. I need you in my life. I love you so much.”

“I know,” she told him, reaching up to pull his head down to her and kissing his lips. “I love you too. Apparently, I can’t stop even when I think I should.” She giggled.

All humour was gone a second later as the passion re-ignited between them.

“I missed you so much,” she told him, as his lips trailed across her skin. “I didn’t want to, but I did.”

The way he kissed her proved he felt the same, as they made love again to the rhythm of the storm that still raged outside. Logan and Veronica were oblivious to anything but each other and their latest reunion. This time they were going to stay together, they just had to.


	22. Chapter 22

Veronica wasn’t really sure how to feel as she waited at the gate for Wallace to arrive back in Neptune. Of course she missed him when she was away at the FBI, but she missed everybody and his distance didn’t matter much then. Since arriving home in Neptune, seeing her Dad and all her other friends, she felt her BFF’s absence keenly. Mac was awesome but understandably very much caught up in her own stuff right now, and it would be so cool to catch up with Wallace and get his own brand of advice and opinion on her current issues. Maybe she would’ve felt only excitement if she was stood here alone or even with Mrs Fennel and Darryl in tow. Instead she was surrounded by Logan, Mac, and Dick, two of which were perhaps the least likely people to want to meet her friend off a plane.

There was no denying that what Mac had been telling Veronica about Dick was true. He was so different with her to how he’d ever been before. Not completely unrecognisable as the jackass that graced the halls of Neptune High and later Hearst College, but nicer, sweeter even, especially where the mother of his unborn child was concerned.

Wallace’s face was still a picture when he came through the gate, rushing easily to Veronica and hugging her tight, and then looking beyond at the rest who had come to welcome him home. As if Mac being pregnant wasn’t enough of a shock, Dick announcing loud and proud that he was the Daddy only made matters worse. One look at Logan had any hint of a smile that was left on Wallace’s face gone in an instant and immediately Veronica wished she had declined all offers and come here alone. Never had she hated a decision more than now, as Dick offered to take everyone out to lunch to talk, only to have Wallace refuse. He wanted to go home and sleep off the plane journey, which they all understood, but it broke Veronica’s heart just a little not to get to spend any time with her best friend even now.

She was no fun at all at lunch, since she did agree to go when the others cajoled her. They noticed, she knew they did, and Logan tried to apologise for making things awkward. It wasn’t really his fault, of course. The chances were that Wallace really was just tired and needed to go home to rid himself of the jet-lag before he caught up with her. Veronica wanted to believe it, but she couldn’t quite let herself.

It was later when she was home alone, having parted ways with her boyfriend and other favourite couple, when she realised that it wasn’t just her paranoia getting to her. The knock on the door was familiar and welcome, as was the genuine smile and hug she received from Wallace. It was barely four hours since they fetched him from the airport, there was no way he had slept enough yet, and she immediately called him on what seemed to be deceit.

“I slept on the plane.” He shrugged, looking just a little guilty for lying as Veronica ushered him inside. “I’m sorry, V, I didn’t mean to be so harsh, but I kinda wasn’t expecting the welcoming committee,” he admitted.

“I know, and I’m sorry too,” she said immediately, looking even more guilty than her friend as they sat down on the couch together. “It all just happened in a rush, and I guess I didn’t think it through. That was just way too many surprises for you all at once.”

“Ain’t that the truth?” Wallace chuckled, shaking his head. “Mac and Dick Casablancas? And a baby on the way? That’s crazy!” he said definitely.

“True dat,” Veronica replied with a nod of her head, “and believe me, I was shocked and a little disgusted too when she first told me. I honestly thought her life was over, but then she and Dick got closer, like genuinely closer, and he’s really surprised me with how… decent he can be,” she explained, even as Wallace’s eyes grew comically wide.

“Dick Casablancas? Decent? Man, things can really change over a summer!” he declared with enthusiasm. “Last I heard, he was one of the assholes forwarding home-made porn of my best friend and her boyfriend around campus,” he reminded Veronica none too quietly.

“Oh, I’m aware of Dick’s downsides, believe me,” his friend agreed, “but he really has changed since he and Mac got together. I didn’t know he knew how to be an adult, but he’s getting pretty close,” she explained, knowing it would be hard for Wallace to believe until he saw it with his own eyes.

Of course, now he was back home, he’d probably get to see a lot of it. He must’ve also noticed by now that Veronica herself was no longer with Piz but with Logan, since he was right there with her at the airport and holding her hand on the way back to the car. Veronica almost feared her best friend’s reaction to that and would rather not ask until she had too. Instead she focused on asking Wallace how things were in Africa, something she was interested in knowing anyway.

“It was good,” he told her. “A real experience. Man, Veronica, you see stuff on the TV and all, you think you know what’s going on in the world, but damn.” He shook his head. “I saw some things I kinda wished I hadn’t. In fact after the first week, I was thinking about coming home,” he admitted.

“But you didn’t,” said Veronica pointlessly, smiling only because she was so proud of what her friend had done by staying.

“No, I didn’t,” he agreed. “And I am totally glad about that too. I learnt a lot, and I really feel like I helped some people. Maybe only a little bit, but it feels good to do it.” He smiled. “Gave me some perspective too,” he went on to explain. “About life and all. Makes me damn thankful for all the things I have. Sure, it ain’t as much as some folks, like the 09ers and everything, but I got family and friends, and a safe place to lay my head at night. That’s a whole lot more than some people got.”

Veronica nodded in understanding, unable to give a verbal answer. She couldn’t imagine what the people went through in those countries, the families broken by war, the children forced into poverty, into battle. Her heart broke for those in the world that could not be easily saved and yet swelled at the thought of her friend Wallace making a difference in even a few of their lives.

“I’m proud of you, Wallace Fennel,” she told him truthfully, almost to the point of tears, which surprised him just a little.

“Yeah, well, it’s not like I’m the only one.” He shrugged. “But y’know, V, you could learn a little something from all this just the same as me,” he told her, looking a little too serious. “I ain’t sayin’ I understand what happened with you and Piz or with you and Logan, but I do know that whatever goes down, you and Echolls seem to end up back together one way or the other.”

“Wallace, I-” she tried to interrupt but he shook his head to stop her and carried on regardless.

“No, I get it, I do,” he assured her. “I know you never loved Piz that way, and I probably shoulda tried harder to help both of you see it, being my two best friends and all, but that’s done now,” he shrugged. “Fact is, if you love Logan, I mean serious deep meaningful all the way epic love, then you gotta stop playin’ around and make it work, girl. I know you been through a lot, both of you, but life could be a whole lot worse than the likes of us got it.”

Veronica wasn’t sure whether to laugh or cry. What Wallace was saying was deadly serious and she knew he was also perfectly right. At the same time, she was just so indescribably relieved that he wasn’t bawling her out for her treatment of Piz, or berating her for putting her heart on the line one more time with Logan. He truly was the best friend she ever had in her life.

“I missed you so much,” Veronica told him as she launched herself at Wallace and hugged him tight.

Her BFF was just a little overwhelmed by her reaction, but honestly, he really had missed her too. He hugged her back just as fiercely and smiled.

“Hey, girl, don’t you go getting soft on me,” he warned her jokingly. “And you better keep this hugging thing on the down-low, in case my woman gets to hear about it.”

Wallace knew that would get him some attention. Maybe Veronica’s wide-eyed expression when she pulled away then ought to have caused offence, but it didn’t. He knew his news would surprise her. He hadn’t exactly dated in a big way since Jackie, and a charitable experience trip to Africa was hardly the usual place to pick up a new girlfriend.

“Explain please,” Veronica prompted as she settled down on the couch beside him to hear the tale.

“Well, her name is Letitia, she lives in Portland, and she’s in college,” he explained briefly. “She was on the same program as me, we worked together, and then... hell, Veronica, I just might be in love!”

* * *

Dick pulled the car up outside Mac’s house and was out of the door before she had a chance to protest. She had hoped to keep him in the car so her parents didn’t get to see or worse talk to him, but clearly it was not to be. He seemed hell-bent on being a gentlemen, especially since they started sleeping together. Mac couldn’t find fault with it, and assumed he was just trying to be the oppoiste of his usual way with the girls he used and walked away from. It was incredibly sweet, but now they were at her house, where her parents may well be watching out of the window, and that made Mac more than a little uncomfortable.

“Dick,” she said, sounding strained as she got out of the car through the door he just opened for her. “Um, you don’t have to walk me to my door and everything,” she told him, but he’d already lifted her purse out of her hands and shook his head.

“Babe, this is the full Dick Casablancas service,” he told her with a wink as he helped her out the car and put an arm around her shoulders as they walked up to the front door.

Mac felt so awkward as they arrived on the porch and she reached to take her purse from her boyfriend. He was going to kiss her, she knew he was, and it wasn’t as if she was adverse to the idea as such, she just feared getting caught. It would be embarrassing enough for any young woman to have her Mom or Dad open the door on her whilst she was kissing her man, but it was ten times worse when said man was the very same that had ‘knocked up’ said daughter.

Mr and Mrs Mackenzie had only met Dick Casablancas once and that was the other time that had begun with a kiss on the porch, and ended with the revelation that dear little Cindy was expecting the spawn of Dick. She really couldn’t go though another embarrassing experience like that right now, and it made her extra glad she had decided now was a good time to move out. In a few weeks, this would never be a problem again, but right now that problem remained.

“Okay, thanks for lunch,” she said quickly, leaning in to plant a quick kiss on her boyfriends lips.

Dick had other ideas as he put his hands to her face and held her close for a long moment, kissing her til her toes curled and she forgot what day of the week it was. Poor Mac completely forgot where she was or what she was doing until the door opened, causing her and Dick both to jump what felt like ten feet in the air.

“Hey, Mr Mac,” the blonde greeted the older man then, with far too much exuberance and a wide grin he didn’t entirely mean.

“Good afternoon, Dick,” Mac’s father replied with a nod. “I’m glad you’re here I was hoping to talk to you,” he told him, as Mac squirmed.

“Dad, please,” she urged him not to start a fight here on the doorstep, as her eyes flitted around to see if the neighbours or any passers-by might notice.

“Now, Cindy, I’m going to be reasonable about this,” her father assured her, as he moved away from the door and ushered the young couple inside.

Before long, Mac and Dick were sat a deliberate six inches apart on the couch, feeling so much younger than their twenty years and as if they were about to get scolded for something awful. It was a surprise to both of them when Mr Mackenzie began talking quite reasonably, as promised, and seemed to be offering to shake Dick’s hand.

“I’d like to tell you, Dick,” he said seriously, “that whilst I don’t entirely approve of how things began between you and my daughter, I respect the fact that you’re standing by her in this, and doing the right thing,” he told a shocked Dick who only realised he should be taking the offered hand and shaking it when Mac shoved an elbow in him.

“Uh, thanks... sir,” he added awkwardly as the men shook hands.

“You can just stick with Mr Mackenzie for now,” he advised him with a tight smile. “I know a great deal of young men who would bolt at the first sign of responsibility, and honestly, well, I’ll admit I expected you to do just that, but so far things seem to be going well, you’re showing a commitment to Cindy and the child you’ve both created. I can’t really be mad about that, can I?”

“Guess not,” Dick agreed with a nod. “But y’know it’s not like I’m with Mac... er, Cindy just ‘cause she’s having my kid or whatever,” he explained, pushing his fringe off his face. “I totally love her and everything,” he assured Mac’s father, though it was a toss up whether he or the girl in question were more stunned that he’d come out and said it in quite that way.

It was only when her father looked at her then, and Dick followed his gaze, that Mac realised how much this moment had moved her. Tears were streaking down her face completely unnoticed by the girl herself, and she felt ridiculous when it was brought to her attention.

“I’m so dumb,” she remarked as she ran her hands over her cheeks and sniffed. “I’m not sad, I swear, I... I’m really happy,” she promised the two most important men in her life.

It was all they needed to hear.


	23. Chapter 23

Mac knew she could be a little paranoid sometimes, but people really were staring, and she knew it. It didn’t bother her too much, after all it was to be expected. Besides all through High School she’d had to deal with the pointing and giggling of 09er girls, most of them referring to her as the nerd girl or Ghostworld or something similar, mocking her choice of clothes, her beloved hobbies, or the bright coloured streaks in her hair. This was somewhat different. You kind of hoped when you hit college everyone was a little more mature and open-minded, but unfortunately that wasn’t always the case. Mac had hoped for too much, it seemed, as she was whispered about behind hands that couldn’t possibly cover mouths so big!

“Hey.” Veronica smiled as she stepped out of the lecture hall to find her friend waiting for her. “Ooh, not a happy expression,” she noted from the look on Mac’s face as they began walking to lunch together.

“Apparently being knocked up gets you more staring and pointing than even walking through the halls naked might,” she said with a fake cheerfulness that made Veronica wince.

“Naked you say?” the blonde echoed, hoping for a joke. “I’m sure Dick would be willing to test that theory for you,” she considered. “Actually, didn’t he do that already?”

Mac did crack a smile at that. As much as she loved her boyfriend and was pleased he had grown up a lot these past weeks, not least in the last month since they’d properly gotten together, she was highly aware that he was still somewhat crazy and even dumb at times. That wasn’t going to change completely and neither should it. Dick was what he was, and to change him too much would be wrong. Mac loved him just the way he was, even if that was difficult for some people to grasp, including Veronica.

Of course, some might say that Veronica’s own taste in men was somewhat lacking, given that she was now back to dating Logan Echolls after what might seem like a few too many ups and downs to any given bystander. In truth, it was indeed their last chance at this relationship, and so far, after one month, it wasn’t going so badly.

“Hey, babe!” Dick called as the girls walked into the cafeteria, waving his arm like a crazy windmill, as if they wouldn’t’ve spotted him anyway. “How’s my best girl?” he asked as they walked over to the table where he and Logan sat waiting.

“Really, Dick,” Veronica mock scolded the blond. “You shouldn’t say stuff like that to me in front of these two,” She rolled her eyes.

“Not happenin’, Ronnie,” he told her as he pulled Mac into his lap before she could protest. “You totally missed your chance with this hunk of burning love.”

“And I’ve lost my appetite completely,” Veronica teased, before turning her attention to her own man and greeting him with a kiss. “Hey, you.”

“Hey, yourself.” He smiled back at her as they shared a moment.

It was as the two couples were getting friendly that Wallace put in an appearance and almost wished he hadn’t bothered.

“Seriously, guys!” He rolled his eyes as he approached the table and dumped his bag down on the fifth chair. “Y’all gotta be getting familiar where people have to eat? Bad for the digestion,” he teased them.

“Like you wouldn’t be just the same if your snuggle-bunny Leticia was here?” Mac teased right back as she slid off Dick’s lap and onto an actual chair beside him.

Here with all her friends and her boyfriend too, she really didn’t care so much about the attention she got for being pregnant. Honestly, she almost forgot she was from time to time, when they all got chatting about other things, from school work to movies to whatever else.

Of course there were still important things to think about, and not all specifically to do with the baby. Today was a different kind of big day as Mac and Dick finished moving into their apartment tonight. It wasn’t a fancy place, but it wasn’t exactly a shoebox either. Mac had insisted on paying her way, though she accepted a little help from her family. She was not going to let Dick pay for everything simply because he was rich and could do it. This place would be her home as much as it was his and their childs. Okay, so he did put a little more cash in than she had, and made her a gift of various things when it came to furniture and appliances. She had to accept it, she didn’t have much choice, and she was doing so gracefully, she thought.

“You gonna need any help with the party tonight?” asked Logan then, munching on his fries and offering Veronica a share too.

“Dude, I don’t think we have enough beer,” Dick replied, proving that no matter how much of a grown up he was becoming, he was still Dick deep down.

“It’s going to be a small party,” Mac reminded him with a look. “We don’t need a whole lot of beer, and I really don’t want anyone getting so wasted they throw up on our new carpets.”

“Babe, that’s totally what the ugly ass vases are for.” He rolled his eyes as if his point should have been obvious to her long before he explained.

Veronica was laughing along at the ‘lover’s tiff’ for a while as it continued only to have the smile was wiped off her face almost instantly when Piz came into view. They’d seen each other twice since they got back to school. He was still sharing a dorm room with Wallace so it was bound to happen, but it wasn’t any the less awkward now than it had been the first time. In fact, this occasion might be worse since she was sat with Logan, the man who was a not small part of the reason for Veronica and Piz’s own relationship being doomed from Day One.

“Hey, Piz,” said Wallace with a wave that invited him over. “You okay, man?” he asked, as his friend wandered over but continued to scan the food court the entire time.

“Yeah, I was... looking for someone,” he explained absently before his eyes shifted to actually look at Wallace, and then to the rest of the people at the table.

It was evident he would not have come over if he’d been paying more attention to who was there. Awkward didn’t even begin to cover it and it showed on everyone’s face, except maybe for Dick’s face, because he honestly didn’t seem to understand why it mattered. In is head, Logan and Veronica were a couple, and no matter how good a guy Piz was, he was just in the way of what was meant to be. The dude had no right to be pissed or anything.

“Ooh, that pie looks good,” Mac said suddenly as she got up. “Hey, Veronica, wanna come get some pie?” she asked her, none too subtly.

It didn’t matter a bit to her friend who was only too happy to run away on this occasion. Yes, it was cowardly and wrong, but right now she just needed the easy option, and she was going to take it when it was offered to her. That left four very awkward guys all looking at each other not knowing what to say as the girls hurried away to buy dessert they didn’t really need or even particularly want.

“So, Piznarski,” said Dick in the silence, making Logan and Wallace react as much as Piz himself. “You up for a party tonight? Me and Mac are totally having a house warming thing at our new apartment, if you wanna swing by, grab a beer?” he offered.

Logan watched his friend and his girlfriends ex as they looked at each other. This was a bizarre turn of events, and he honestly couldn’t figure out why it was happening or what would happen next. Dick could be attempting to be friendly, or maybe he was lining Piz up for a nasty trick, it was hard to tell which. He fully expected the guy to say no to the invitation anyway and so got quite the surprise when Piz took the paper Dick was holding out to him with the address on it and nodded his head.

“Sure, thanks,” he agreed. “I’ll try and come by.”

Logan was staring wide-eyed at Dick as Piz walked away, and Wallace’s expression wasn’t exactly dissimilar.

“What the hell just happened here?” he asked Dick. “Hey, if you pullin’ some crap on my room-mate-”

“Relax, I was trying to be nice is all,” the blond assured him. “We got single chicks coming to the party, maybe he can get hooked up,” he explained with a shrug. “Get some fresh meat under him, to help him get over Veronica?”

As crass as his way of saying it was, complete with obscene hand gestures, neither Logan or Wallace could really find a way to argue. They were only glad that Veronica and Mac were still over by the counter fetching their dessert and hadn’t heard any of what was said. The line wasn’t so long, they probably would have made it back to the table already, if Weevil hadn’t shown up and taken their attention.

“Well, you know I ain’t no fan of the rich white boys in this town,” he told them, casting a not so pleasant look at the table where Logan and Dick were sat with Wallace still, “but you girls look happy and that’s good enough for me,” he told his friends who were grateful for the sentiment.

“I’ll admit this isn’t exactly how I expected things to turn out,” Mac told him, “but it’s not so bad,” she added, before breaking into a yawn and immediately apologising for it.

“Are you sure you’re up to a party tonight?” asked Veronica worriedly. “Because if you wanna cancel-”

“No, I’m fine,” her friend assured her. “I might have to fit in a nap between my last lecture and then, but I’m fine,” she promised. “Speaking of the party, you should come, Weevil.”

He looked a little bemused by the offer, not that he expected Mac to be anything but polite and kind, but since she was about to move in with an 09er and all, well, old habits died hard. He had a tendency to think that no matter what, he’d be cut out of the social circle these two friends moved in before long.

“I don’t know, chica.” He shook his head. “Your guy prob’ly don’t want no Mexican crashin’ his ‘gnarly kegger’,” he joked, complete with fake surfer dude accent.

“It’s not just Dick’s party, Weevil,” Veronica reminded him. “It’s Mac’s too, and anybody she wants to invite is welcome, including you.”

“Well then how is a guy supposed to refuse two beautiful women when they’re being so charming and persuasive?” He smiled, accepting the piece of paper Mac wanted to hand him with her new address on it, before he thanked her and walked away.

* * *

Mac was surprised to find herself at a party where she was actually enjoying herself. It hadn’t happened in years, if ever. She had some vague recollections of children’s irthday parties that were kind of fun when she was still in the early part of grade school, but later in High School, she was much happier at home with her computer than being hugely social. She had friends, and some of them were here tonight, though they looked shockingly pale and oddly dressed next to the sun-kissed beautiful people that Dick called friends. It was perhaps the oddest collection of people ever to be in a room together, and yet they all seemed to be getting along pretty well. Mac had a glass of soda in her hand and the smile on her face remained. This was a happy place, and if living in her own apartment with Dick and her baby was going to feel like this, then she was very glad they made this choice.

Of course, for every up there is a down, and just when things are looking rosy is usually the very moment when they go wrong. This Mac remembered with shocking clarity when the next guest arrived, a friend of Dick and Logan who had brought along his new girlfriend apparently. Nobody had expected her and nobody was pleased to see her either, such was usually the way when it came to Madison Sinclair.

“Hey, ladies,” said Weevil as he appeared between Mac and Veronica who was also headed over, his eyes on the same track as theirs right now. “I don’t exactly condone violence against women but, er, you want me to toss out the garbage? I ain’t exactly gonna argue,” he told them.

He knew V had a big problem with Madison, not least because she slept with Logan that one time. Plus he knew the blonde prissy bitch was Dick’s ex and her presence probably wasn’t going to sit well with Mac. The fact Madison had looked down her nose at him all through High School and got him in trouble with the Principal for no good reason didn’t exactly help his opinion of the Queen Bee either.

“It’s fine, I’m fine,” said Mac, sounding anything but as she put down her glass on the side table and looked around for Dick. “I can handle this, I totally can,” she told both Weevil and Veronica with the fakest smile they’d ever seen on her face.

“Is this a bigger deal than I think it is?” the former biker asked his friend the moment Mac was gone.

“Oh yeah.” The blonde nodded but clearly wasn’t willing to explain as she spotted Dick herself and hurried over. “Hey, Mac is looking for you,” she told him, gesturing in the direction her friend had gone. “Um, did you know your buddy was bringing your ex to this charming soiree?” she checked, hoping even Dick Casablancas wasn’t so very dumb as to let such a thing happen on purpose.

“What? No way!” he exploded sufficiently to assure Veronica she was right to hope as she had. “Dude, that is not cool.”

On that note, he stormed away, presumably to throw either his friend, Madison, or both out of the door head-first. That at least had Veronica respecting him within a second. Of course, she might’ve liked Dick better if he hadn’t invited her ex to the party on purpose. Seeing Piz awkwardly hit on another girl across the room felt strange, but Veronica had to admit it was nice to think of him moving on, it eased her guilt some if nothing else.

Shifting her eyes back to Madison, she saw Dick arrive at his ex’s side and trusted him to do the right thing where she was concerned. On this one occasion, she was right to do so, it seemed.

“Hey, Madison,” Dick greeted his ex coolly. “What’re you even doing here? I didn’t invite you,” he pointed out, though she barely flinched.

“Carl didn’t tell you?” she asked with faux-sweetness as she glanced up from the table full of snacks she wasn’t eating to wave to her boyfriend. “We’ve been going out a while now.”

“Didn’t ask, don’t care,” Dick emphasised as he stepped into her line of sight and made sure she paid attention. “Get. Out.” he said firmly.

There was no way he wanted her here, not after the way she treated him, and then what she did to Ronnie and Logan. It was clear to him now more than ever that Madison Sinclair was poison of the worst kind. Mac had mentioned on occasion that she had always been cruel to her in High School and that wasn’t helping his opinion of his ex either, even though he was just as guilty in that sense at least.

“What’s the matter, Dick?” Madison fluttered her eyelashes at him. “Afraid that having your ex-girlfriend in your new love nest will complicate things?” She giggled. “Come on, you can’t really love that-”

“You say one bad thing about Mac, Mad, and I swear to God...” he started to threaten her, but she still only laughed at him.

“Would I say something bad about her?” she asked with a hand over her heart, acting the picture of innocent which no-one was buying. “Of course not. Although, people do talk Dick, about the poor girl moving in on the rich guy,” she told him, moving in close. “I mean, are you even sure that baby is really yours?”

Dick was so mad, he was actually coming close to one thing he swore never to do - hit a girl. It was Mac that saved him the trouble of breaking one of the few personal rules he vowed to always keep.

“Y’know, Madison, just because some people lie at any given opportunity, doesn’t mean we all do,” she told her, causing the blonde to spin around fast.

She was surprised, but recovered quickly, as all around the rest of the party goers fell into silence, eager to see and hear what happened next.

“Well, I wouldn’t blame you if you did.” Madison smiled almost evilly. “Dick can be pretty good in the sack when he puts his mind to it, and y’know the money has to be useful to someone like you,” she sneered.

Veronica went for her purse then and Logan was sure she was in a mind to take the bitch down with Mr Sparky’s help. For the sake of not having his girlfriend arrested for assault, he pulled her back and told her she shouldn’t.

“I’m not ashamed of having less money than you, Madison,” said Mac coolly. “Some of us don’t have rich families to buy us everything we don’t deserve.”

Wallace smiled at that, proud of his friend for standing up to a bitch that took delight in making all their lives difficult in high school. Of course, he didn’t know how close to the nerve all this was for poor Mac.

“It’s true, my daddy does love me a lot, and he is very successful,” Madison grinned. “I’m sorry, what does your father do?”

“You should know,” Mac snapped, surprising every one but Veronica who knew just exactly what was likely to come out soon.

Madison was as oblivious as anyone, but then that was nothing new.

“I’m sorry, does he work for my father?” she asked in earnest. “So many people do that I-”

“Get out, Madison!” yelled Mac then, practically apoplectic as her last nerve failed and she majorly lost it. “Just get out of my home! You’re not welcome here and you never will be!” she told her, just shy of screaming at her.

“Ooh,” Madison had the good sense to back up but didn’t look in the least be scared or sorry. “I’m guessing she’s a little hormonal,” she said sideways to Dick, a truly stupid move since he was quite ready to knock her teeth down her throat already, and would have done ten minutes ago if she were a guy.

“C’mon, man,” Logan urged his friend to come away, leaving Veronica free to dive into the fray before Mac could speak again.

“Time to go, Madison,” she said with a fake smile as she grabbed her by the arm and started pulling.

“Yeah, let me help you to your car, Miss,” added Weevil as he helped steer her none to gently to the door and out.

Some watched Madison being escorted out, others were staring at Mac waiting for her to move. She just stood there visibly shaking, no tears or words coming anymore, just a blank expression and the never ending shivers of frustration and anger bubbling just under the surface.

“Mac?” Wallace approached her carefully, but no sooner had he reached out to her than she was gone, storming off to the bedroom and slamming the door behind her.

Dick slipped away from Logan immediately and followed her, leaving all the party guests to their own devices. Right now, nobody else mattered.

When he walked into the room, Mac was sat on the end of the bed, her face in her hands, sobbing like a child.

“Are you okay?” asked Dick carefully, sitting down beside her.

“I’m fine,” she snapped, getting up the moment he was next to her and turning away.

Dick recoiled from the outburst, not understanding why she was quite so upset and apparently taking it out on him now.

“Hey, I know Mad can be a bitch, but it’s not-”

“I said I’m fine, Dick!” she yelled at him, barely glancing over her shoulder, and immediately feeling bad about her behaviour. “It’s just... I’m tired.” She sighed, knowing there was no way she was in a fit state to explain herself properly right now. “Could you please ask everyone to leave now?” she asked in a much more reasonable tone then as she turned to face him.

Dick wanted to ask what was really going on here. As dumb as he could be, he was sure this wasn’t as simple as Madison being a bitch. Mac was way too upset, but then pregnant lady hormones did cause fierce reactions, that’s what the Doc said that time. All he knew for sure was that Mac was hurting and he wanted to help. If clearing out the party would do that, then he was all for it.

“Sure.” He nodded once, considering offering a hug or something before he left but deciding against it when Mac turned away to the window again.

Sometimes people just wanted to be alone, he knew that, so he’d let her have her time. He left then to ask everyone to go, and to assure Veronica that her BFF would be just fine. Not that she was fine and she wasn’t ever going to be where Madison was concerned. One day she really ought to tell Dick why, but now didn’t feel like the right time, and so the secret would be kept a little longer.


	24. Chapter 24

Mac woke up to the strange feeling of being hit from the inside. It took her a moment to get her bearings and realise that the baby had woken up before her this morning and was currently trying kick his or her way out of there. It wasn’t the first time it had happened, but it was actually the first when her boyfriend had been close by.

“Dick!” she called to him, jostling his shoulder. “Dick, wake up!” she tried again, shoving him harder.

He was a heavy sleeper, there was no denying it, and it seemed to take forever to rouse him. When yelling and shoving got her nowhere, Mac employed different tactics. She leaned down to put her lips on his, kissing him awake. It always worked, to the point where she actually wondered if he did it on purpose, waiting for her to try this way to bring him round. Then she figured that as much as she loved Dick, he really wasn’t smart enough to be so deceitful.

“Hmm, Macky,” he murmured against her lips, pulling her closer, clearly thinking he was getting lucky.

“Dick, I didn’t wake you up for sex.” She giggled as she tried to get away from his roaming hands, however good they could make her feel. “It’s the baby”

“What?!” he was awake then and stupidly fast, sitting up and looking panicked,

“What’s wrong?” he asked worriedly, and Mac almost felt bad for not better explaining.

“Nothing’s wrong,” she assured him, taking a hold of Dick’s hand then and placing it on her expanding belly. “Feel that?” she asked, watching his face as the baby kicked out.

“Woah,” he reacted with surprise, going so far as to take his hand away a moment, then putting it right back. “That’s crazy!” he declared, as Mac laughed.

“Tell me about it,” she replied. “It’s a lot crazier when that’s happening on the inside of you, trust me.”

A very dirty comment about things moving inside of her came to Dick’s mind, but he didn’t say it. A year ago, even six months ago, he had little to no self-control when it came to a good burn or a filthy joke. These days he knew when to hold his tongue and when it was okay to go that far. With Mac, he tried hard to be the best version of himself, especially in these sweet baby-related moments.

It was so weird how close they had gotten. Sometimes when Dick got thoughtful, which was more often than most people might think, he wondered how life might’ve been different if he and Mac had got together sooner. He wondered about a world where Beav never existed, or where he was less screwed up. In the end, Dick always came out strangely glad that all their lives had gone as they had. Sure, he missed his brother and hated what had happened with Cassidy, but the silver lining to a very black cloud was this happy ending for him with Mac and their baby.

Dick never could have imagined this picture, himself with a girlfriend he truly loved and a child on the way, living in their own apartment, and both of them attending college. They’d lasted a month of living together without any problems, not counting the mini-argument on the night of their housewarming party. Dick never did ask Mac what that was all about. She seemed fine the next day and he put it all down to her pregnant lady hormones and Madison being the bitch everyone always said she was.

By now, that little spat was all but forgotten and things between Dick and Mac were better every day as they learned more about each other that they never knew before, and bonded over their unborn child. This was one of the beautiful moments that neither of them would trade for the world.

“Hmm, that’s it,” said Mac. “Baby must be tired now, all done kicking the crap outta Mommy,” she joked before moving as if to get up.

“Hey, just ‘cause baby’s done havin’ fun, doesn’t mean we have to,” said Dick, waggling his eyebrows and making his meaning clear as his hand slid down off Mac’s stomach and disappeared under the covers.

“We shouldn’t,” she tried to protest, but almost forgot how when he touched her and moved in for another kiss. “Seriously, Dick,” she squirmed beneath him, only making things harder... literally!

“Don’t be a party pooper, Macky,” he urged her, continuing his assault on her senses, but she meant what she said and soon made it clear.

“Dick, we’re not having sex,” she told him firmly with that look only women could conjure at such a momnt.

It was the expression that meant ‘don’t mess with me or else’ and Dick knew better than to continue to argue when his Mac was wearing said look. Sure, he was disappointed, but he gave up and let her out of bed then. Apparently he wasn’t going to be allowed to sleep either as he tried to turn over and suddenly found himself without covers.

“Hey!” he protested, even as Mac laughed at him.

“I’m going to college,” she said with a smile he couldn’t resist. “We both have classes today and you need to get up,” she told him. “And I don’t mean it that way,” she confirmed, putting a finger to his lips to stop the dirty comment that was about to slip out.

Carefully getting herself out of bed, Mac threw on a robe, and padded out of the bedroom towards the bathroom. She would love nothing better than to spend the day in bed with the man she loved, alternating between sleeping and making love for hours on end. The reality was, if she was going to get any qualifications, she needed to attend school as much as she could. It would be tough enough when she was too big to even make it onto campus, and after when there would be the baby to cope with. Things were only going to get harder, and whilst Mac could kid herself she was still a normal student for now, she knew the reality of the situation. Once the time came for her to give up actually attending lectures and all, Mac had plans to use the Internet and Skype to her best advantage. She was so lucky that at least one of her professors was a feminist and proud. Ms Anderson was all for her best student getting her education any way she could and bringing up a baby at the same time if that was what she wanted. Mac was so grateful for all the help her teacher was willing to give, she almost cried all over poor Ms Anderson the moment she was nice to her about it all.

Dick was just as helpful and kind, and Mac couldn’t love him more right now. There was a giddy smile on her face, she noticed, as she caught sight of herself in the bathroom mirror. She was ridiculously happy, despite the way her life had turned into the complete opposite of what she imagined. If things had gone as she planned, she would be living in a dorm, possibly with Parker still, studying hard and looking to a future with a nice sensible geeky type boyfriend, a high paying job, and all. Instead, she was in a medium sized apartment, living with Dick Casablancas, the surfer dude dumb blond brother of her dead ex, six months pregnant with his child, and yet still grinning. Sometimes life threw you a curve ball, and whilst it had the potential to smack you in the face, you could also get lucky and score a home run. Mac wasn’t sure how to take the fact she was thinking of her life in sports metaphors as she stepped into the shower and under the flow of soothing warm water. Maybe it was just one more change in her that she didn’t understand but didn’t mind at all anyway.

“Hey, Macky?” her boyfriend suddenly called from the door.

“No, thanks, Dick,” she yelled back, raising her voice over the noise of the rushing water. “I can scrub my own back,” she told him, smiling in spite of her negative reponses to what she was sure he was about to suggest.

“I totally wasn’t going to say that,” he answered, a complete lie she was sure, but she let it go. “I was gonna ask if you wanted a ride to school, I mean, I don’t have a class 'til later but I can totally take you,” he offered.

Mac smiled at how sweet he was being, sticking her head out from around the shower curtain and finding he was peering around the bathroom door in much the same way.

“Thanks, but it’s fine,” she told him. “Veronica is coming to pick me up, she has a lecture this morning too, but you can start on breakfast if you wanna be helpful?” she suggested. “I’m starved.”

“Whatever the lady wants,” he told her, hurrying over to kiss her lips. “What’ll it be, babe?”

Mac thought for a moment and then smiled.

“Would you be totally grossed out if I said bacon and eggs with chocolate sauce?” she asked him.

Dick made a face that suggested he was entirely grossed out by that idea, but he tried his best to hide it a second later and said that whatever she wanted she could have. He ran into the room to spare her another kiss before he walked away backwards, taking a good long look at her wet naked body inside the shower. Yes, he was torturing himself when she’d already said she had no time for fun this morning, but man, that view never got old.

* * *

By the time Mac got home from college, she was more than a little tired and kind of worried too. Dick had said he had a class in the afternoon, and she knew it was true since Logan had showed up saying the self same thing. He looked as surprised as Mac when he came out of class and had to tell her that his BFF was a no show. Of course he also told Mac not to worry, it wasn’t exactly the first time Dick had bailed, though to be fair he had really been making more of an effort since he and Mac got serious. He knew education mattered to her, and he wanted to be at least as smart as he could, since she was so intelligent. It seemed weird to both her and Logan that he would blow off school that way, especially without telling either of them.

Veronica did her best to calm her friend’s fears. She also put her date with Logan on hold long enough to drive Mac home again that afternoon.

“I’m sure it’s nothing,” the blonde insisted as she pulled up the car outside the apartment building. “He probably just fell asleep in front of the TV or whatever,” she shrugged. “It happens.”

“I know,” Mac agreed, “but it’s just so weird. He offered to drive me in and he knew he had a class this afternoon. He was even talking about studying.” She sighed.

“Dick voluntarily studying?” Veronica’s eyes were wide as she said those words,

“Maybe something is wrong with him,” she joked, laughing lightly and glad to see her friend smile then.

“Ha ha,” she said flatly as she levered herself out of the car and picked up her bag,

“Thanks for the ride, Veronica. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Call me if you need me,” her friend told her seriously before driving away.

Mac couldn’t understand what she would need help with. After all, there was bound to be a logical explanation for Dick not showing up to class. Maybe he had fallen asleep or just got distracted and lost track of time. Not everything had badness at its root, even though things in Neptune did tend that way at times. It was still somewhat of a relief to Mac when she let herself into the apartment and found Dick was actually there, laid out on the couch, with a beer in his hand.

“Hey,” she greeted him with a smile. “I was worried when you...” she stopped short of finishing her sentence, the happy expression on her face falling into distress when she got a proper look at the living room.

The picture that used to hang on the opposite wall was on the floor with the glass smashed. Two vases from the mantle were also in pieces, and a side table upturned in its usual spot. The rug was in a heap on one side of the floor, and from here Mac could easily count at least two thirds of a twelve pack strewn all around.

“Hey, Macky,” Dick slurred and wobbled as he got himself up from the couch and faced her. “What’s up, baby doll?” he asked, reaching out to her.

Mac instinctively backed up away from him.

“What happened to you?” she asked, first crossly given his behaviour and then looking a little less angry as she reached out to the cut on the side of his head.

“Meh, that’s nothing.” He knocked her hand away. “Just had a little run in with the furniture is all.” He giggled away her concern. “Must’ve moved or somethin’, I dunno,” he muttered some as he dropped back down onto the couch cushions.

Mac watched as he tried to drink some more from the can in his and but found it empty. Tossing the crumpled metal onto the ground with others, he reached down for another, and came up with what appeared to be the last beer, since it had all twelve plastic rings attached to it that would’ve held its friends in the beginning of this drinking binge.

“Dick, you’re starting to scare me now,” admitted Mac, glancing back at the door and wondering if getting out of here might not be a bad move.

She didn’t want to run away. They were a couple and they loved each other, and she would hope that after these past few months and all that had happened, Dick wouldn’t just be drunk and wrecking their home for no reason like this. If he was in trouble, if he was upset, she wanted to be there for him, but at the same time she had her own safety and the baby to think about. Mac had seen first hand how out of control Dick could be in this kind of state and she wasn’t lying when she said he was starting to give her cause for fear.

“Oh, I’m scary?” He laughed at that, though there was no humour in it. “Yeah, you dated my brother who raped and murdered people. I can see how I’m the scary one,” he said nastily.

Mac felt tears well in her eyes at that but fought to keep them at bay. No way was he going to do this to her. It was the drink talking, she knew it was, and she was not going to let it get to her.

“Stop it,” she warned him. “Just stop it, Dick, before you make this any worse than it already is.”

“Worse than what, Mac?” he asked, getting up so suddenly that she flinched away. “Worse than my brother being what he was? Worse than the way me and my asshole father treated him?” he asked, his voice becoming strangled with emotion as he threw a piece of paper towards her, and finally let waiting tears tumble down his cheeks unchecked.

Mac frowned as she fumbled with the paper, a letter with a form attached, she soon realised. With wide eyes she skimmed the words written on both pieces of paper and then looked up at Dick again.

“Your father,” she said in barely more than a whisper. “He wants you to visit him in jail,” she realised.

“Like I owe that bastard anything!” Dick yelled angrily, though the pain evident in his tone and eyes, in the way the tears wouldn’t stop coming, it proved he cared more for his dad than he wanted her to believe.

Mac honestly didn’t know what to say to him. She loved Dick like she never loved anybody. God only knew how they had come this far but it had happened, and they were happy, though to look at them now no-one would ever know it. Only his family had the power to break him like this, the brother who’s death he still blamed himself for, at least in part, and the father that treated neither boy properly before abandoning both for his own financial gain. Anything she said to try and make him feel better was going to be pointless and cliched. Still, Mac had to try. There was nothing else to do and no-one else to turn to for either of them.

“Maybe,” she began, quiet and careful as she watched Dick drag the back of his hand across his damp face, “maybe you should see him, just to find out what he wants.”

“No!” Dick argued immediately. “Why should I?” he asked angrily, sitting himself back down on the couch with a thud, downing half the can of beer in record time.

“Because he’s still your father, Dick,” Mac explained calmly, “and he loves you.”

“Shut up!” he bellowed at that, throwing the can he was holding at the far wall and watching as it hit with a thump, sliding down to the ground and making even more mess.

Mac tried to keep calm, to keep breathing evenly. Dick wouldn’t hurt her, she trusted him enough to believe he never would. The can had been thrown away from her, not at her, and so far he showed no signs of being any real kind of violent. She was scared, that much she would admit, just because Dick was being so out of control, but she couldn’t abandon him right now, she had to try to help him. 

“I know what it’s like to hate your parents, Dick,” she told him carefully. “I know how it feels to wish you never had to deal with them again-”

“How?” he asked, turning angry flashing eyes on her then. “Your folks are fine. They barely even care you got knocked up and everything. They still love you. They would never abandon you, not ever,” he told her, bitter and twisted about it, Mac could see.

“Sure, Sam and Natalie would never do that,” she agreed, swallowing hard and fighting her own tears as she continued, “but... they’re not my parents, Dick,” she admitted aloud.

It was the first time she ever told anyone her secret. Veronica knew because she had been the one to discover the truth, but Mac had never had to say those words to anyone. Doing so now brought on a flood of tears, the like of which even Mac hadn’t expected. The confession certainly seemed to get Dick’s full attention. It wasn’t exactly that she was telling him this to shift focus, she had been intending for the truth to come out before long anyway. Now just seemed like as good a time as any, when they were on the subject of parental dysfunction. Mac needed Dick to know he wasn’t alone, that he wasn’t the only one suffering with a Mom and Dad that were far from ideal. This was the best way to explain it.

“What, like... you’re adopted?” he asked, with apparent confusion.

Dick wasn’t the brightest button at the best of times, but this had come way out of left field, and he was so drunk and caught up in his own crap. He couldn’t see another explanation for what Mac was telling him, and he also wondered how he had never known about this before.

“Kind of,” she agreed, sniffing hard, trying her best to be calm and reasonable but finding this so much more emotional than she ever thought she could. “It’s more complicated than that,” she admitted as she walked around the back of the couch and sat herself down at the opposite end from Dick. “I, er... Back in high school, when Veronica was digging up dirt on parents, she did a little research for me,” she explained. “She found out... She found... I was switched at birth, Dick,” she admitted fast, like ripping off a band aid because it had to be easier than hanging this out, “with Madison Sinclair.”

To say Dick was shocked by those words would have been understatement of the century. He wanted to say something, but no words came to mind. He wanted to laugh at how crazy it seemed, and cry for Mac because she looked so broken by what she had been forced to admit.

It made no sense. Mac and Madison? Switched at birth? Dick was sober in a second as his mind raced a mile a minute. This explained things, properly explained the fight and upset at their party a month ago. It made so many things he couldn’t figure suddenly become clear.

“See? I do know what it’s like when you don’t know your parents. When your mom and dad aren’t there,” she told him in the silence that followed. “I will never know my real parents, because it has to be a secret that they’re even mine,” she cried.

Dick was an ass. That realisation was clearer than anything as he looked at the state of the room around him and then back at his sobbing pregnant girlfriend. Sure, his Dad was still an asshole, and it still made him mad that Dick Snr would presume his son still loved him enough to want to go visit him in jail. The big picture mattered more though. Mac and the baby were so much more important. This new life he was building didn’t have to be ruined because of his old world, not unless he wanted it to be, and he so didn’t want that.

“Babe, I... I’m sorry,” he said, apologising for at least eight things at once as he reached out to Mac, glad when she gave him the chance to hold her.

They didn’t talk for a long while, she just sobbed into his chest and he held on tight to her, contemplating what had happened here. The state of the place, he could hardly believe he’d done all that and yet hardly noticed. The cut on his head was starting to throb like a bitch now he thought on it, and he was going to regret all the booze so much in the morning, perhaps even more than he was regretting it now. The worst of everything was Mac crying. Girls in tears was never a good thing, he hated it, but nothing was as bad as his sweet Macky being so upset. He saw now why she didn’t want him just to toss his remaining family aside, and although he probably wouldn’t change his mind about visiting his Dad, he at least vowed there and then not get out of control about it ever again.

“Hey,” he said when Mac finally stopped crying so hard. “Hey, y’know what this means right,” he said, putting a finger under her chin and getting her to look at him properly.

“That I’m a cry baby, and you live up to your name sometimes?” she asked, only half-joking.

“Besides that.” He rolled his eyes before focusing solely on her face again and wiping away her tears with his thumbs. “You and Madison got the wrong parentals. If things were the right way around, I’d’ve dated you from the start.” He smiled.

Mac wasn’t sure how to take that. It was the dumbest thing she ever heard. There was really nothing to suggest that if the Sinclairs had raised her and the Mackenzies had Madison, that she and Dick would have become an item any sooner or even at all. It was scientifically inaccurate and almost impossible to know for sure. On the other hand, the sentiment was kind of beautiful, and all he was really trying to do was make her feel better. To see him smiling down at her now, having heard his apology and being held in his arms, well, it was all working.

“I love you,” she told him, sincere as she ever said anything.

“Not half so much as I love you,” he replied easily, planting a kiss on her lips.

This wouldn’t be their only fight, but they were going to be okay in the long run.


	25. Chapter 25

Mac figured she should be used to the whole doctors appointment thing by now, and yet every time she came here she felt stupidly nervous. It wasn’t as if they had ever given her bad news or anything, or the doctor was this terrible person. On the contrary, Dr Devlin was a really sweet man and always did everything he could to make Mac feel comfortable. The cynic in her said that was because he was being paid plenty by Dick to do just that, but Mac would also like to think he was just a good guy too.

“You okay, babe?” asked Dick as he felt Mac’s hand shake a little inside his own.

“Sure, yeah,” she lied badly, so badly in fact that he noticed immediately and fixed her with a look that proved he didn’t believe her at all. “A little nervous,” she admitted. “I know it’s dumb, but I can’t help it.”

“It’s all good,” her boyfriend reminded her. “Doc’ll do what he always does, tell us everything is cool with Junior, and then we’ll head home.” He shrugged easily.

Mac nodded but looked none the less pale or shaky. Maybe it wasn’t just this doctors appointment that had her so rattled, maybe it was what came after. Yes, they were headed home after this, to their own little apartment that had been theirs for the better part of two months now. Unfortunately, they weren’t staying there all day, as Mac would have liked. They were due at her parents house for dinner at seven, and that was probably what really had her so shaken up.

Mr and Mrs Mackenzie had adjusted pretty well to their teenage daughter getting pregnant as the result of a one night stand whilst still in college. They helped pay for the apartment she moved into with her boyfriend, and tried their best to accept Dick into their lives as both Mac’s partner and their future grandchild’s Daddy. She couldn’t fault them on how hard they were trying to make everything okay when it reality it had seemed far from it for so long. The problem wasn’t really them, it was Dick.

It wasn’t that he didn’t know how to behave in front of her folks. Dick tried hard too, for Mac’s sake, but he did have rather a habit of putting his foot in it without meaning to. Mac didn’t want to give him a list of topics to steer clear of, because that seemed wrong. By the same token, even if she tried to make such a list, she was sure she could never think of every single thing that might lead to badness. It wasn’t Dick’s fault, not at all. She sometimes wondered if he didn’t know how to behave around people’s parents because his own had been so absent. That was one topic in particular she hoped didn’t come up at dinner tonight.

Mac’s parent knew about Dick’s parents, before she ever explained the situation. Everyone heard the gossip, whether they wanted to or not, and unfortunately where Mr and Mrs Casablancas were concerned, most of it was true. There had been much debate over Dick seeing his Dad in jail. In the end, he decided to go, but only because he wanted to make things final with Big Dick. Mac didn’t know exactly how it went down, only what Dick had told her and that was brief. From what she understood, he had told his father about their relationship and the baby that would be his grandchild. The conversation was over quickly as Dick went on to say that he never wanted to see his Dad any where near his son or daughter, or even near himself and Mac. They were done being related as far as Dick was concerned and that was all there was to it.

Mac felt saddened knowing the connection between the two men was undoubtedly severed forever. She agreed that Big Dick was hardly a good person or would be a good influence on their lives or that of their child, but she knew what it was not to know your real family and it came with a side helping of pain. Dick insisted his situation was different. What happened to his Macky was painful and hard, but her decision was made for her. Cutting his own father out of his life was a choice Dick was making for himself, and he knew it was the right one. Big Dick, Cassidy, all of the badness that went with it, they were Dick’s past, whilst Mac and the baby were his bright and shiny future. Mac had smiled at the way he phrased it and found that same expression now as she thought about it again.

It wasn’t that she expected the future to run smoothly either, nobody could predict that, and this was never going to be easy. Two young adults suddenly having a baby and a new relationship and all at the same time, there were some big changes happening here and nobody was so naive as to think it would be plain sailing from beginning to end. Still, Mac and Dick had each other, and their friends, and the support of her family at least. They were so much better off than plenty of other people, that was for sure.

“Miss Mackenzie? The doctor will see you now.” The woman behind the desk smiled, and Mac took a deep breath as she got to her feet.

Dick’s hand wrapped tightly around her own as they headed to the door.

“You sure you’re okay, babe?” he checked again as she smiled at him in a strangely tearful way.

“Yeah,” she agreed. “I really am,” she promised, and was pleased to realise she meant every word.

* * *

Veronica was breathing hard as she flopped back against the pillows of Logan’s bed. He was seriously good at that, and it really never got boring. Of course, she might have to start going to the gym to get her stamina up if they were going to keep doing it, or she was never going to be fit for both her own social life and classes too.

“Y’know you’re saving me a tonne of gym fees,” Logan teased her, making Veronica wonder if he read minds too, as she chuckled breathlessly.

“So that’s why we got back together, huh? You needed the work-out?” she joked right back, though perhaps it was not the most tactful subject to be teasing him with. “Logan, I’m sorry,” she apologised when she saw his smile fade. “I was... My head isn’t exactly straight right now,” she admitted as she turned to look at him.

“I don’t know whether to be offended by the first remark or flattered by the reason for it,” he told her, that old familiar smirk returning in a moment.

She could love that look now as much as she used to say she hated it. Hating Logan had never been easy, not even back in High School after Lily was killed and he was being so awful to her. Leader of the pitchfork and torches brigade, wanting to burn her at the stake, and still Veronica couldn’t find a way to really despise him. From the beginning, she knew she had loved him in some small way and that had never really died. Now the feeling was stronger than ever and so far so good on the whole making it work thing. It had been a couple of months now, and here they were still happily together, still a couple and only one small fight that neither could even recall what it was about anymore. Maybe miracles do happen, Veronica thought, maybe this time we really can make this work.

“You’re being thoughtful,” Logan noticed as he pulled her close and kissed the top of her head. “This is going to lead to some diabolical scheme, isn’t it?”

She swatted him across the chest for that remark, but laughed a little anyway. It was true, she did have a habit of thinking too much, planning and scheming for her latest case, even when they were together in bed like this. It would seem bad perhaps to anyone else, but Logan knew his girlfriend could not turn off that fast-thinking, devious little brain of hers. He loved that about her as much as he loved anything else.

“Actually... and I probably shouldn’t say this out loud and jinx it,” she noted, looking up from where her head was resting on her boyfriends chest. “I was just thinking how well this is going.” She smiled. “We’re making this work, at last, and I am really happy, Logan,” she told him sincerely.

“Really can’t be any happier than I am,” he assured her, leaning down to kiss the end of her nose, and then her lips. “Besides, us working out isn’t the real miracle,” he told her then as they snuggled close together. “That is entirely your friend Mac and my friend Dick making things work with baby-bump makes three,” he told her.

Veronica couldn’t argue with that. It was becoming less bizarre to see the couple with their arms around each other or kissing or whatever. It was possible to think of Dick Casablancas as a real human being, and not just human but also sweet and kind and even adult, words that Veronica would never have applied to the guy before.

“I can’t believe that Mac is six months pregnant already.” She sighed. “It seems so fast. Like one minute we were just normal college girls and suddenly she’s just so close to being a mom. I can’t imagine dealing with that, not at our age.”

“Me neither,” Logan admitted, allowing himself an internal sigh of relief.

He knew women were affected by what was happening in each others lives. Girls got broody when their friends were pregnant or newly a mother. Though Logan was sure he knew Veronica well enough and was positive she would not be wanting a baby right now, it was good to hear her say it out loud like that. It wasn’t as if he wasn’t entirely committed to his girlfriend, he really was, and if he thought for a moment that it was a child or lose her, he would be a father at the tender age of twenty, Logan would just really prefer not to, and it was good to know Veronica was in no rush for motherhood or anything as big as that right now.

“Now you’re thoughtful,” she said as she looked up at him. “Serious face,” she noted. “That can’t lead to anything good.”

“What? A man can’t be serious now and then?” he joked. “I thought you girls liked mysterious and broody.”

“You remember when we watched Buffy the Vampire Slayer, right?” she said, looking unimpressed. “I was a Spike girl, not an Angel fan. Broody is not my type.”

“No, you’re strictly reformed bad boys.” He smirked at that as he ran his hands over her skin suddenly, making her shiver.

“Easy on the reformed,” she said, leaning in to kiss his lips.

It was a good long moment before they parted, and even then Veronica wasn’t overly keen. Logan had a reason for not pursuing the passion right now though, a reason he was determined to tell her about, no matter how much she tried to stop him talking with kisses and touches both.

“Seriously, Veronica,” he said, pushing her off some, even as he laughed at the tricks she was trying. “I really have to tell you something.”

That got her attention and not necessarily in a good way. Logan was rarely serious, at least not this serious. She would like to think that anything he had to say to her was a good thing, but you never knew until such things were actually said. With a solemn expression she nodded for him to go ahead and talk.

Logan ran a hand back through his hair and tried to get his bearings before he spoke.

“So, I was thinking, about how it’s kinda lonely around here since Dick moved in with Mac and all,” he explained. “And, y’know, I always meant to move into a real place of my own eventually...” he paused then to turn over and reach into the bedside locker for something.

Veronica wasn’t sure what to think when he turned back with a brochure that had a bow stuck on it, as if it were supposed to be some kind of gift.

“This is kind of an early Christmas gift,” he explained with what appeared to be a nervous smile, as he handed her the supposed present.

His girlfriend sat up some, pulling the covers up with her, before she accepted her ‘gift’ and opened it up.

“Apartments?” she said with frown, completely confused by now. “You want me to help you pick out a place?” she checked. “I mean, that’s sweet, Logan, but that’s not really a gift for me so much as a free headache, and it’s gonna be your place so-”

“It’d be our place,” he cut in, proving how brave or possibly stupid he could be - only the bravest and dumbest interrupted Veronica Mars.

“Ours?” she echoed, coming of entirely parrot-like and kind of stupid for a person that was known for her quick mind and sickle wit on any normal occasion. “Logan, what are you saying?”

“C’mon, Mars.” He rolled his eyes. “Put the clues together and solve the mystery,” he teased her as he pulled himself up beside her and put his arm around her shoulders. “I’m asking you, Veronica Mars, to move in with me,” he asked her, serious in a second as he genuinely made the proposal.

Veronica was sure that for a moment she forgot how to breathe. It was crazy really, she ought to have seen this coming. Of course Logan needed a real place to live, she was the one to tell him so, most especially after Dick moved out. Nobody could live in a hotel forever, that was just weird, but somehow it never occurred to her that Logan would want her to move in when he took the big step back to the land of normal house-dwelling folks. Mac and Dick had done it, but they were having a baby and that made everything different. Her and Logan, living together, it seemed scary and huge on the one hand, and yet on the other, she kind of loved it.

“Wait a second.” She shook her head. “Are you... are you giving me half an apartment for a Christmas gift?” she checked, her head still reeling at the concept.

“Kind of, maybe.” He smiled, caught between nervous and amused at her shock. “I mean, obviously rushing into this would be crazy and probably not what we should do but... but I want you with me in this, Veronica,” he told her seriously. “I want to be with you, always.”

There were tears in her eyes as she moved to hug him tight and then kiss his lips.

“I wanna be with you too,” she assured him. “So yes, Logan,” she told him at last. “I’d love to find an apartment and move in with you.”

* * *

Dinner was going shockingly well. Mac had happily told her parents how she got along with the doctor, and how everything was good and normal with the baby. She deliberately skipped out any details, first because they were about to eat, and second because Ryan’s ears were always set to wide-open. Her little brother did not need to know too much about women in that sense yet, nor babies and pregnancy. It might just mess with his head a little too much!

Everything felt so surprisingly comfortable as the Mackenzie family, plus Dick, sat around the table to eat. Sam asked Dick how school was going and he actually remembered to talk about what he was learning and not how he still tried to cut classes sometimes. Natalie asked her daughter if she was coping okay with her pregnancy and reminded her she was always there is she needed to talk. Ryan was his usual self, behaving to a point, but then getting bored and fidgeting until somebody paid him attention. He was soon into a conversation with Dick about video games, and Mac smiled genuinely at the effort her boyfriend was making. It went so far as him offering to take Ryan on at any game he wanted when dinner was done. When Mac stuck an elbow in his ribs, Dick even remembered to ask the Mackenzies if that was okay with them.

“Of course.” Sam nodded, grateful that he’d been asked at all. “Ryan is allowed to play after dinner, but only for an hour,” he warned his son. “It is a school night.”

“Only two weeks 'til we break for the Holidays,” Ryan consoled himself with that, which prompted his Mom to mention something else.

“Yes, about Christmas,” she said, putting down her knife and fork and turning full attention to Mac and Dick. “Now, Cindy, your father and I were talking about it, and... well, I know you’re a young woman striking out on your own now and making a family of your own,” she said, still feeling just a little awkward and emotional about her baby girl being so grown up, “but the fact is, well, we would love to have you come home to us for Christmas,” she admitted.

Mac opened her mouth to answer, but wasn’t sure what to say. She had been putting off the topic of Christmas for the most part because she didn’t know how best to play it. Going home to her family would seem normal in a way, but she was with Dick now and they lived together. They were a couple and having a baby, surely that meant they should be together on such a special occasion too, not least because he really had nowhere else to go.

“Your mom is inviting both of you, honey,” Sam cut in then as he saw Mac’s evident distress. “Of course, you and Dick are both welcome here. We understand that next year you might wanna be alone with your little one.” He smiled. “But this year...” he tailed off, looking from his daughter to Dick and back.

The young couple looked to each other in much the same way and Mac’s smile was a mile wide when Dick shrugged and told her, ‘Your choice, babe. I’m cool with whatever’.

“Thanks, Mom, Dad,” she told them happily then. “We’d love to be here for Christmas.”

Finally it seemed things were working out for the better, and Mac couldn’t be happier. It seemed crazy that she could be content in a situation so far removed from that which she had originally planned for herself, but life had a way of surprising you, and fate had vastly different ideas about where she should be. That was fine with Cindy Mackenzie, because right now, she was as happy as she’d ever been.


	26. Chapter 26

“Oh my God, Mac!” Veronica gasped when she saw her. “I swear you get bigger every time I see you!”

“Thanks, that doesn’t make me feel like a beached whale at all,” her friend replied flatly.

Immediately, the blonde was apologising, but smiling as she did so, assuring her BFF that she was not meaning to be at all insulting.

“It’s not like you’re fat,” Veronica reminded her. “You’re pregnant. That’s a beautiful thing.”

“Yeah, ‘cause I feel beautiful!” Mac scoffed as she flopped down on the couch and her friend joined her. “And I’ll remind you of that when it’s your turn.”

“Oh, no, no, no, no,” she argued vehemently, shaking her head wildly. “That’s way, way, way off into the future. We’re talking years, and many of them.”

Mac laughed at that. She knew how committed Logan and Veronica were to each other this time around, and she believed they would be together in years to come this time around. She also believed that marriage and kids would be a part of the future they were looking at sharing together, though she understood why waiting for that was a good choice.

“I said that once,” she reminded her friend. “And now look.” She sighed, with both hands on her ever expanding belly.

She was now seven months gone and facing a New Year’s party exponentially bigger than she had seen in this year. Mac didn’t mind, she didn’t resent the baby, and she was now fully prepared for what was happening, well, as much as any expectant mother ever could be. It helped that she had Dick, and that he was so committed, something that few people really understood or believed him capable of. Veronica was one of his chief doubters from the start, but once in a while she saw the glimmers of hope and decency in her best friend’s man. Right now the glimmer she was seeing was blinding and not coming directly from Dick but from what she presumed to be his Christmas gift to Mac.

“Geez, Mac, what is that?” she asked, holding her hands up as if the glare was literally causing her retinas to burn. “Did they leave any stones in the mine?” she joked, as Mac rolled her eyes.

“It’s not a huge deal.” She sighed, before seeing the look on Veronica’s face and adding. “Okay, so maybe it is. It’s not an engagement ring or anything, we’re so not ready for that,” she confirmed as she showed off her hand. “It’s more like a promise ring, a promise that Dick’s going to be there, always,” she explained, feeling just a little silly. “It’s okay, you can laugh at the cheesy romantic now if you want.”

“I’m not gonna laugh, Mac,” her friend assured her. “How could I? Logan wants to buy me a frickin’ apartment!” she reminded her. “Not that we’re going to jump into that yet... soon though. Kind of exciting.” She smiled in spite of herself.

“How was Christmas for you guys?” asked Mac curiously. “Did Logan get Grandma Mars approval?” she checked, wondering how things must have gone when Veronica and her Dad took the boyfriend back to meet her one remaining grandparent.

“It went pretty well actually,” Veronica smiled. “I mean, I could have used Grandma not slapping Logan on the butt first chance she got, and not regaling us with the stories of all the bad boys she used to date before she married Grandpa Mars, but Logan was great.” She sighed happily. “He just wasn’t phased by the family thing, he handled the questions about his own family so well, and... and I was really proud of him.” She smiled giddily.

“Wow, we’re both starting the New Year happy and in love,” Mac noted with a grin of her own. “Who knew that was possible?”

“Um, not me, that’s for sure,” Veronica confirmed as they both lay their sprawled on the couch. “So, I’m assuming every one was impeccably behaved at the Mackenzie house?” 

“Pretty much.” Mac nodded, then giggled some. “Dick has taken to calling my dad ‘sir’ and no matter how many times he tells him he doesn’t have to, he keeps on doing it, like a habit, it’s so cute,” she explained. “And then after a couple of beers, it’s like ‘sir-dude’ started happening.”

“Oh God,” Veronica gasped, covering her mouth with the her hand a moment. “Did your dad notice?”

“If he did, he didn’t say anything.” She laughed. “I think Mom did but she was too polite to say anything, and the look I gave Ryan was enough to keep his mouth shut too. He knows even pregnant I can still take him down.”

They both continued to laugh and then sighed almost as one, lounging into the couch cushions and watching the sun make patterns on the ceiling.

“You know this isn’t getting us ready for the party, right?” said Mac after five long minutes of companionable silence and comfortable sitting.

“I know,” her friend confirmed. “Are you going to be okay with the whole partying thing?” she checked then, looking sideways at Mac. “I mean midnight is a loooong way off and you’re all... well, I’m thinking carrying that load tires a body out pretty fast.”

“You’re not kidding!” Mac agreed whole-heartedly, “but it’s fine. We’ll be at Logan’s suite in the Grand. I’m sure I can crash in Dick’s old room if I need to nap.”

“Good thinking, Q,” Veronica nodded once.

“Thank you, Bond,” Mac replied with a giggle that turned into a groan of complaint when Veronica got to her feet, all peppy and full of energy.

“Come on!” she commanded, reaching for Mac’s hand to help pull her up off the couch. “Let’s go find you something stunning to wear.”

“Stunning? In maternity wear?” Mac asked looking dubious. “Yeah, that’ll happen.”

* * *

It was the strangest party since Mac and Dick’s housewarming of their new apartment, but everyone present hoped it ended better than that debacle. Since all guests had been vetted, and Madison Sinclair was accounted for as being far, far away, things were looking pretty good. Of course, it was still the most diverse collection of people ever to be stuffed into a suite at the Neptune Grand.

Logan and Veronica had decided it was the best location for a New Year party. Trashing Mac and Dick’s place when she was seven months pregnant and in no fit state to host a party or the clean up after it seemed wrong, and anything at the Hearst dorms was bound to get out of hand. The Grand just about let anything slide if you paid them enough, and between them Logan and Dick were happy to foot the bill for everyone to see in 2008 in style.

“Woah, that’s just freaky,” Wallace declared, on being invited to feel the baby kick from inside of Mac’s belly.

“Totally, dude!” Dick agreed whole-heartedly, surprisingly not drunk yet despite the clock reading way past eleven.

“How much longer you got to wait now, Mac?” Wallace asked his friend, who had only just now returned from a long nap, right on time for midnight.

“Eight weeks if kiddo arrives on time,” she explained, “but seriously hoping for earlier,” she admitted, as Dick hugged her close.

“My Macky is doing amazing with the whole pregnant thing,” he declared, swigging on his beer. “She totally doesn’t bitch and complain like some chicks would, and she still looks totally hot.”

Wallace wasn’t sure how to respond to that, except to smile and nod politely. It was pretty amazing to him that a guy like Dick could be so decent. After all these weeks, maybe he ought to be used to it, but then he had spent two years of High School and one of college seeing the guy act like a complete ass-hat on a daily basis. He had to hand it to him though, Dick had really stepped up to the plate on this one, being a good supportive boyfriend and a proud father-to-be. Wallace was genuinely impressed.

“Honestly,” he said, as Dick excused himself to go talk to some of his other friends. “and I never thought I’d say this, ever,” he said vehemently, “but I hope if I ever found myself in that situation, I’d step up as good as Dick’s done, ‘cause man, he surprised the hell out of me.”

“Me too,” Mac admitted with a giggle she couldn’t help. “Sometimes I still wonder if he’s the same guy that we went to high school with, or if maybe some aliens took over his brain when we weren’t paying attention.”

She thought on that a moment, as did Wallace, and then they both shook their heads at the same time.

“Well, seems to be you making this all work out for yourself, Miss Mac.” He smiled. “I’m real happy for ya,” he promised, as he ‘clinked’ his beer bottle against her paper cup of soda.

“Thanks.” She smiled back at him. “I just wish you could be as happy. Can’t be nice seeing all the couples that are gonna kiss at midnight and Leticia is so far away,” she sympathised.

“These things in life are sent to try us,” he said sagely. “It’s cool. She thought she’d be able to make it down for a visit, it didn’t happen. There’ll be other holidays.” He smiled bravely.

Across the room, Veronica watched her friends all having a good time. She saw Dick return to Mac’s side within ten minutes, as if he were attached by elastic. It was so darn cute, she could hardly stand it, but she loved to see her friends to happy. It was sad that Leticia couldn’t make it like she and Wallace planned, but he was keeping his chin up about it, reminding them all that other people suffered so much worse.

“That’s a thoughtful expression,” said Logan as he appeared by his girlfriend, wrapping his arms around her from behind. “Should I be afraid? Maybe hide the sharp objects?” he teased as he kissed her neck.

“No,” she assured him with a giggle. “I was just thinking how great it is that everyone is so happy.” She sighed as she leant back into his embrace. “And how different everything is going to be next year. We’ll have our own place, we’ll complete Sophomore year before long, and by then Mac and Dick will be parents. They’ll actually have a baby, it’s... it’s crazy,” she said, unable to find another word that suited right now.

“There is a lot going on,” Logan agreed, “but good stuff for a change, so that’s cool.”

“Yeah,” she said, turning in his arms to face him, “but don’t pretend you’re not thinking just the same as me. You’re waiting for the hammer to fall, for the next bad thing to come along and wreck everything.”

Logan wished he could tell her she was wrong, but Veronica knew him way too well for him to get away with even a kindly lie anymore. It was always there in the back of his mind, that amongst all the good in his life, some tragic thing must be due to happen. Of course, with all he and Veronica had been through in their young lives, he doubted there was much more that could go wrong. The last thing Logan was going to do was tempt fate by saying so!

“Let’s just not worry about that, not tonight,” he urged her. “For one night, let’s pretend we’re normal people with normal lives, in a normal town where crap doesn’t happen to us just because it can,” he said, dropping a kiss on her nose.

“Sounds like a plan,” his girlfriend agreed as she reached up to kiss his lips.

“Hey, save it for midnight, you two,” Wallace interrupted their moment, though neither Logan or Veronica minded too much. “Hey, you seen that girl Piz brought along? Man, no disrespect to you, girl,” he told Veronica, “but he rebounds good!”

The truth was, Veronica hadn’t really noticed Piz had even showed up tonight. She knew he was invited, after all, there was no reason not to. They all got along pretty well these days as friends, the initial awkwardness of she and him being exes and Logan having pummelled Piz into the ground that one time apparently gone now. Turning around, she and Logan both surveyed the scene and suddenly spotted Wallace’s room-mate by the punch bowl with a tall and stunning blonde.

“Wow,” said Logan, as Veronica let out a long low whistle.

“She is... not what I expected to be Piz’s type,” she admitted.

“I don’t know.” Logan shrugged. “He obviously goes for hot and blonde. I can respect that.” He smirked, as Veronica tipped her head back to look up at him and they kissed.

“Hey guys!” Dick yelled then to get everyone’s attention, turning up the volume on the TV. “We’re on the countdown!” he declared as everyone paid attention to the ball dropping on the TV and Dick Clark counting down from ten to the magic of midnight and the new year’s beginning.

The party goers started to gather, the count down was being yelled by every man and woman in the room, and in other rooms throughout the building too.

_Ten_

Dick slung his arm around Mac’s shoulder and held her close.

_Nine_

Veronica leaned into Logan’s embrace as she watched the ball drop.

_Eight_

Piz shifted awkwardly beside his new girlfriend, anticipating tonight’s big kiss.

_Seven_

Wallace looked out at the couple-o-rama around him.

_Six_

The poor guy kind of wished he was anywhere but here in this moment.

_Five_

Putting down his near-empty beer, he backed up through the crowd some.

_Four_

By the door, Wallace hoped to slip away without anyone noticing, when he suddenly felt a tap on his shoulder.

_Three_

“I can’t believe I made it,” said a voice he knew so well, his eyes going wide as he spun around to face her.

_Two_

“Letitia?” he gasped with shock. “What you doing here, girl?” he asked with a smile.

_One_

“Happy New Year, Wallace,” was her only reply, as she went into his arms and kissed him long and hard on the lips.

Their reunion kiss was in unison with so many other couples, including Logan and Veronica, and Mac and Dick too. It was kind of a beautiful moment for all, and the perfect start to 2008.


	27. Chapter 27

Mac turned the next page in her text book and stifled a yawn. It wasn’t a boring subject at all, in fact she was quite enjoying it. Unfortunately, just getting out of bed seemed to make her tired right now. It was hardly surprising since she was just over eight months pregnant at this point, and more than twice the size she had been just a few weeks ago. It was exhausting just to function some days, and Mac would be glad when she no longer felt like a ginormous marshmallow woman.

The plan had been to go to college as long as possible, but after the Holidays had gone by, Mac found it impossible to return to Hearst. The very idea of schlepping into classes almost every day was just too much to bear. Her back was starting to ache regularly, carrying books would do her no good, and though she was hardly one to fuss too much about her looks, Mac knew it’d take a miracle to make herself look reasonable first thing in the morning.

Between the greasy hair and dodgy skin that seemed to go hand in hand with looking like a beached whale, Mac wasn’t totally sold on the idea of a whole bunch of people seeing her. The pointing and staring had got pretty old before these were ever problems, and so she stayed home. She still studied as much as she could, caught what lectures and seminars she could via Skype, and tried to keep up with assignments. It wasn’t the same, not quite the college experience she had in mind when she first went to Hearst, but that was okay.

Mac had adjusted pretty well to the concept of how her life would be now, and far from trying to convince herself it would be just okay, she was now quite happy with it all. She and Dick had made a real connection. She knew a lot of people still couldn’t wrap their head around the idea of them being together, but Mac had never loved anyone like this or felt as loved as she did by Dick Casablancas.

It was still strange to think about sometimes, how far the two of them had come. To think their only real connection before this was a boy they both loved and yet now were forced to hate in part for all he had done in the world, and for how he had come to leave it.

If nothing else, Mac would always have to love Cassidy for bringing her and Dick together. It made sense to look at it that way, that she had to be with him and suffer all she had as Beaver’s girlfriend, to get what was looking like some kind of happy ending with his brother. She and Dick needed to go through their hard times and tragedies to grow as people and get to this point where they were okay with being parents and ready to make a commitment to each other.

Heaving herself up off the couch, Mac dumped her text book on the coffee table and all but waddled across the living room to the hallway. One side was the bedroom she and Dick shared, and the other across the hall was a little work in progress. With a smile, Mac opened the door and peeked inside. It was really coming together, her little project. Dick kept on telling her to let him do the decorating and all, especially since the Doctor told them Mac really should be taking it easy more often, but she couldn’t help herself.

Veronica had gone all Psych 101 and called it nest building, at which Mac had stuck out her tongue in a childish manner and fast-shuffled her friend into helping her pick out colours for the walls, and posters to go up there too. It was looking good, pretty neutral in shades and decor on purpose, since Mac and Dick had opted not to know the gender of their baby until he or she popped out into the world. A few short weeks and that child would be here, ready to sleep in this room, in this crib that Dick and Mac had put together on one hilarious Saturday afternoon a couple of weeks ago. Who knew a flat-pack piece of furniture and its strange Swedish instructions could be so complicated and so funny?

Mac looked around the room and sighed. She saw in her minds eye how things might be with her and a little girl or maybe a little boy. There was plenty of room on the floor to set up a train-set or a big dolls house. There were shelves to be filled with books or board games or both, as their child grew up.

“I’m gonna be a mom,” said Mac to herself, the realisation hitting her in a different way than it ever had before as she stood there now.

“No, you’re gonna be the best mom,” she heard behind her, and turned around with tears in her eyes to see Dick stood in the doorway.

She found a watery smile as he came in and hugged her. Mac might have appreciated the gesture more if they could get close than two feet apart, and if Dick didn’t appear to be covered in dust. She made a face as she pulled out of his arms, wiping her hand across his yellow T-shiort that was grubby in places.

“Yeah, apparently moving furniture around gets you totally dirty.” Her boyfriend sighed. “And not even in the fun way.”

“Why were you moving furniture again?” asked Mac. “Given the zip code they moved into, I kinda figured Logan would have people employed to do that kind of thing.”

“I kinda hoped so too,” he confirmed as she turned in his arms to look back into the room she had been enjoying before he came in. “Turns out Ronnie has got way into the whole ‘let’s do it the poor way’ thing,” he complained. “She has Logan, like, putting up shelves and everything.”

“We put up our own shelves too,” Mac noted as she leaned back into his embrace, his arms wrapped around her body and resting across her pregnant belly, his chin on her shoulder.

“Babe, that’s like a totally different thing,” he told her definitely. “First off, I don’t want our kid being spoiled like me, ‘cause I want him or her to be all cool and stuff, like you, and second... well, Logan’s just always had servants and stuff. Veronica’s making him all, like, normal and everything. The guy lived in a hotel for two years, he’s used to having everything done for him. It’s gotta come hard, y’know?”

“Maybe,” Mac considered, “or maybe it’ll be good for Logan, to live like the rest of us do? Maybe it’ll help him and Veronica connect on another level and make their relationship stronger,” she said thoughtfully. “That has to be a good thing.”

Dick couldn’t argue with that, first because it made total sense, and second because it was something Mac had said. She was so smart, pretty much all of the time. He didn’t try to find fault with things she said or did because he trusted it was for the best, no matter what. Sure, he had his own opinions, he wasn’t completely whipped or anything, but Mac just knew more stuff than him about the things that mattered, and that was cool with Dick.

“Gotta say, whatever Ronnie and Logan are doing, they’re doing it right,” he said eventually. “I never seen the two of them smile so much, it’s crazy.”

“That is a very good thing,” said Mac with a smile of her own as she turned in Dick’s arms and planted a kiss on his lips. “I should get back to my studying,” she said then with a sigh as she moved to go past him.

Dick grabbed hold of her arm and kept her from leaving.

“Uh-uh,” he argued. “No more studying right now,” he told her definitely as he pulled her close as he could get her once again. “You look tired Macky Mac,” he said, tapping the end of her nose with his finger. “And the doc said you have to rest more, so leave the stupid books alone, ’kay?”

Mac sighed heavily like she was entirely annoyed by his interference. The truth was she kind of loved how much he cared about her. Dick really was growing up and everybody told her it was all her doing. Mac knew better than to think she was the singular reason for the changes in her boyfriend’s nature. Her, the baby, and before that his brother’s death, his fathers imprisonment, it all made a difference. Every person, young and old, changed over time, in ways that were noticeable, and other ways that weren’t so much. Right now, Dick was everything Mac ever wanted, and somehow she had become just the same for him.

“How about we try a different book that we can both enjoy?” she suggested, one eyebrow raised.

It was mean, she knew, to get Dick’s hopes up. He was thinking along the lines of the Karma Sutra or similar, she was sure, despite the fact they didn’t own it, and she would fail miserably at anything in it in her current state. Slipping from his grasp, she removed the grin from his face with one of her own as she returned a moment later with the last book he had been expecting.

“Dude, seriously?” said Dick, looking down with distaste at the A-Z of Baby Names held in her hands.

“Dude, seriously!” she echoed in a different tone, grabbing onto his hand and leading him out into the hall. “Shower, change, then we pick baby names,” she ordered, all with a smile on her face. “I am not having this baby be born, whether it’s a boy or a girl, with no idea what to call him or her,” she said determinedly. “We have to pick a name - today.”

With a sigh, Dick gave in and went to do as she asked. She had a point, of course, they really should have some clue what to call their child when he or she came along, but honestly, he still couldn’t quite imagine even having a baby. Dick was all over Mac being pregnant. It didn’t bother him that she was fat, because it wasn’t like the gross kind of fat like chicks that ate too many burgers or whatever. Mac was beautiful, even now she had expanded a whole lot with the baby inside of her, and before long she’d be back to her regular shape and they’d have a kid. That last part was what kept making Dick think harder than his brain was really comfortable with.

Dick Casablancas was a lot of things, he was a student, a surfer, a jackass sometimes, a pretty good boyfriend, he reckoned, but a father, that was a whole other ballgame. It wasn’t exactly clear to Dick how to be a really good Dad. His own father was no role model, and those of his friends were as bad and worse. Aaron Echolls, Jake Kane, these were not good fathers. There was Sam Mackenzie to look to for advice, he seemed pretty cool, and Dick actually had Keith Mars in mind for another role model. Sure, Ronnie could be bitchy and all, but she came through a whole lot of crap in one piece, and she had said herself her Dad had a lot to do with that.

“You gonna be in that shower all day, Dick?” Mac called to him, making the guy himself realise he had been standing under the spray a very long time, not even focusing.

A half hour later, after Dick got dried off, dressed, and fixed his hair the way he felt it absolutely must be done, he sat down on the couch with Mac and the baby name book.

“Dude, this is gonna be impossible,” he exclaimed. “This book has like a gazillion pages, how are you supposed to pick just one name?”

“I wish I knew.” She sighed as she looked over his shoulder. “Maybe we don’t start with the book. I mean, maybe it’s better to pick out names we like and then look up what they mean or variations to see if we like them better,” she considered, not really sure herself how best to go about this.

Naming their child was a big deal, it was always supposed to be. Whatever name they gave to their baby would be with them their whole life. Mac never did appreciate her own first name, which was why no-one but her family ever called her Cindy. Clearly Dick was named Richard after his father and probably would not want to carry on that tradition given his awkward relationship with Daddy Dearest.

“I can tell you what names I don’t like,” said Dick thoughtfully. “No kid of mine is being called Madison, Betina, or Bonnie. Exes are so out!” he said emphatically, an explanation of why those names were no good.

“Agreed,” Mac nodded once. “No Max, Bronson, or... or anything like that,” she faltered when she realised the only other name she had to say was Cassidy, and they both already knew that was a no go. “What was your mom’s name again?” she checked, realising she couldn’t recall.

“Sadie,” Dick reminded her, “but we’re not going down that route either... unless, y’know, you really want to name this baby after your folks?” he checked.

There seemed no question that she meant the Mackenzie. Though they discussed the switching at birth thing a while ago, it had kind of been put away in a box since then and allowed to fade away. Dick knew the truth of Mac’s birth, and there were no big secrets between them anymore, but Sam and Natalie were still her parents as far as both of them were concerned. This kid would be their grandchild, no doubts about that, but naming said child after one of them didn’t sit right with Mac somehow.

“I think we should go for a unique name, that nobody close to us has already has,” she considered. “It’s important for a kid to be an individual, y’know?”

“Totally,” Dick nodded his agreement. “So... hang on a second.” He frowned, looking down at Mac where she was tucked under his arm. “Are we going for Mackenzie-Casablancas, or Casablancas-Mackenzie?” he checked.

His girlfriend looked awkward a moment. She had thought about this, because she knew eventually it would come up as a relevant point. This was her baby but it was Dick’s child just the same. It did make sense for their son or daughter to have both their names in a lot of ways, and yet she couldn’t help thinking that was an awful lot of name to saddle a baby with.

“Well,” she said at length, not even looking at him as she spoke, “I just thought we’d go with Casablancas.” She shrugged, glancing up to meet his eyes then. “You’re not going anywhere, right?” she checked.

Dick couldn’t help the grin that spread across his lips then. He never thought he could be happy about any kind of commitment. Sure, he married a chick once, but that was a total mistake. Mac wasn’t exactly asking him to be a husband right now, but she clearly wanted him to stick around, and he couldn’t explain how much he wanted that too. From a family of freaks and misfits, Dick had finally found a place of his own in the world, and that was here with Mac and their unborn baby.

“Babe, you are so stuck with me for a long, long time,” he told her, kissing her long and hard on the lips til Mac could barely breathe.

“Good to know.” She sighed right after, with a smile that wouldn’t shift.

That kiss made her head go a little hazy, but Dick’s declaration to be by her side, pretty much forever, that was what really had her mind scrambled. She hoped it would be true, but Dick never really said it out loud that way until now. It gave Mac a warm glow inside that she hadn’t entirely expected, and that she hoped never went away ever again.

“So, we got a last name for this kid,” said Dick thoughtfully. “Still no first names.”

“Start from A?” offered Mac as an option, since she was fast running out of any other plans.

With a heavy sigh, Dick opened up the book of baby names and began reading aloud all those he could actually pronounce, which was about half. It was going to be a long afternoon, but that was okay. Sitting here comfortably together, everything was just fine as far as Mac was concerned. She could stay here forever, just like this.


	28. Chapter 28

“Hey, Macky?” Dick prodded her in the shoulder when he realised she really wasn’t listening anymore.

“Huh?” she responded as her eyes fluttered open and she gazed up at him.

It wasn’t all that late, but she had fallen asleep on him again and Mac hated that. It happened a lot lately, sometimes even in the middle of the day. She had tried so hard to stay active through this pregnancy, to not resort to sitting on her ass too long and eating whatever just because the weight gain wouldn’t show whilst baby was in there. She was determined to act as normal as possible for as long as possible, but as time went on, it just became too much of a struggle.

Mac’s due date had come and gone over a week ago. It was the middle of March and still baby seemed in no hurry to vacate. The doctor was talking about inducing labour before too long, and though Mac wasn’t completely sold on the idea, she was also desperate for this to all be over. She could deal with being a mother, she had adjusted to that idea. She was even ready for the pain she knew was going to come when it came to pushing this kid out into the world. She read all the books and got all the information, but the waiting was killing her.

“I’m sorry,” she murmured as she tried to pull herself up.

“So not necessary,” Dick told her easily, though whether he meant the apology or the moving she wasn’t sure. “You think a guy hates having a chick fall asleep with her head in his lap? So not a problem,” he teased her.

Mac wanted to hit him, but she really couldn’t be bothered. She laughed half-heartedly and let her eyes fall shut again, still lying all over her boyfriend. He was as good as gold and better with her, patient as anything most of the time. Sure, he wasn’t perfect, but nobody was. He got pissed when she needed to go the bathroom every five minutes, when all he wanted to do was watch the movie, and her food cravings almost made him throw up a couple of times. Still, for the most part he was all that Mac needed, and she was so glad that if this was going to be her life that it was going to be with Dick.

“I was dreaming about high school,” she admitted sleepily. “Only it was different... we were dating and... and Madison was the school mascot.” She chuckled some as she recalled the sight of the other young woman in a parrot costume, running up and down the sidelines, whilst Wallace and his team mates shot three pointers.

“Dude, that should be like a movie!” Dick laughed too at the thought of his ex like that. “Y’know, we totally should’ve dated in high school. It’d be like the whole breaking down the class barriers crap, all Romeo and Juliet,” he told her enthusiastically.

Mac popped one eye open and looked up at him with an amused smile on her lips.

“Dick, Romeo and Juliet died,” she reminded him.

“Seriously?” he reacted with evident shock. “Huh. I guess I never finished that book.”

It was tempting to tell him it was actually a play more than a novel, but Mac really didn’t have the energy. It never really bothered her that Dick wasn’t as up on these things as she was. He wasn’t book-smart, and he wasn’t exactly brimming over with good sense either, but he was a decent guy underneath all the shallow crap that he showed the world. Mac wasn’t dumb, she knew he was always going to appreciate the female form, and he was never going to get past making dirty jokes at inappropriate moments sometimes, but that was just a part of who he was. When they were alone together, he treated her like a princess. He respected her and he loved her, that much Mac was totally clear on, and it was all she needed.

“Logan and Veronica are more like Romeo and Juliet.” Mac sighed as she thought on it. “They have this whole epic drama thing. I don’t think I could deal with that. I like simple and normal... our backwards-built relationship notwithstanding,” she confirmed with a smile.

“Too true, babe,” Dick agreed as he flipped off the TV that he was barely watching anyway and paid her full attention. “It’s like we’re all... what’s that word? Like, unconventional?” he tried, earning himself a proud grin and a nod from his girlfriend. “That’s way better than being like everybody else.”

“Agreed,” said the girl well-known in Neptune High for the bright coloured streak in her hair, and a best friend who refused to reform.

She and Veronica were the epitome of ‘I’m going to do my own thing’ back then, and they certainly hadn’t backed down as they grew older. Sure, they were poor girls making relationships with rich boys, but it clearly wasn’t about the money for either of them. Besides, Mac had never been the type to wish that one day her prince would come and sweep her off her feet, and Veronica had let that dream fade long ago when Lily passed away. They were realists, they expected life to be hard sometimes, and it surely had been that. Of course things were working out pretty well now, considering all the upheaval they’d been through up to this point. Now all Mac wanted was to get this baby out of her so she could move on to the next stage of motherhood, the actual having of a child rather than lugging it around inside her. Nine months was the deal, it should be done now, but over a week later, she was really struggling.

“C’mon,” said Dick then, easing her up. “We gotta get you to bed already.”

“Hmm,” she said sleepily as she let him help her to her feet and half-carry her towards the bedroom. “You think I could just sleep until this baby wants to come out?” she groaned as he laid her down.

“Hey, I’m all for that plan, so long as I can sleep too,” he agreed. “I remember when-” he began, stopping so suddenly that Mac opened her eyes and looked across at him, stood there at the foot of the bed still.

She knew from the expression of pain on his face what he was going to say. He remembered something from when Cassidy was a baby, that had to be what it was. Sometimes he just started to talk about him without even thinking of the consequences, like a reflex action that he couldn’t help. Mac didn’t mind, in her head she had almost managed to separate the kid Dick talked of as his brother, and the young man she had both loved and loathed.

“Come on,” she gestured for him to come over and lay down beside her, putting a hand to his face as soon as he was there. “Tell me,” she urged him, her nose practically touching his they were so close.

Dick swallowed down the lump in his throat, and took a deep breath before he began again.

“I remember when Beav was a baby.” He smiled painfully. “Some nights it was like he just didn’t know he was supposed to sleep, and he’d bawl like he was afraid of his own shadow or something, I dunno.” He shook his head. “I used to hate it. I used to yell at him to shut up and then he’d just cry harder...”

Mac had tears in her eyes as saw those that were forming in Dick’s own. People never saw this side of him. Few had an idea that beneath the bravado and all there was a very sweet guy that was so damaged by his past and his family. He hadn’t behaved well and he knew it now, but as a kid he wasn’t exactly set a good example by his parents, particularly his Dad. Then all that happened with his brother, a part of him blamed himself, Mac was sure, though he never really said it outloud. She knew what he feared now, and she didn’t want him to be scared.

“It’s okay,” she promised him, her hand still at his face, making him look at her when he tried to shy away. “Listen to me, Dick,” she urged him. “It’s gonna be okay. You’re older now, you know better. I know you wouldn’t treat our baby that way. I know it.”

Dick nodded that he agreed with her, because he so didn’t want to be that guy. Of all people in the world, Dick Casablancas did not want to become a carbon copy of his useless, worthless father. At this point, that alone was probably his biggest fear of all.

“Y’know that night, the anniversary?” he said shakily and Mac nodded, because of course she remembered. “I didn’t even know what I was doin’, I wasn’t thinking about anything, but of all the girls I could’ve got with that night, I’m totally glad it was you.”

“Me too,” Mac nodded. “I wasn’t so sure I was glad back then, but I am now.” She smiled, leaning in to kiss his lips.

* * *

Mac woke up with a start but not completely sure what it was that had brought her out of sleep. She was dreaming, at least she thought she was, everything felt very vague as she hoisted herself up to a sitting position in the bed and let her eyes adjust to the lack of light. At first she fought to remember what she might have conjured up in her subconscious whilst she slept, but then gave it up as a bad job when nothing rushed to mind but panic. Something was wrong, she didn’t feel so good, and she definitely needed to go to the bathroom.

Hoisting her legs over the side of the bed, she dropped to the carpet and padded along to the bathroom as quickly as she could manage in her current state of over-sized and sleepy. She certainly didn’t have to worry about waking Dick up. The guy could sleep through a nuclear attack, she was certain of it.

It was as Mac reached the bathroom door that the pain struck her. Sharp and low in her abdomen, it felt like a knife being jammed in. She hung onto the door a moment, pushing herself into the middle of the room for fear of hitting herself on anything if she suddenly pitched over. She tried to breathe through it, but panic took her breath away until the pain suddenly subsided.

“This cannot be good,” she whispered to herself, and then all at once there was a strange feeling like a release of pressure.

The whooshing sound got Mac’s attention more than anything she was feeling and suddenly she was crouched on the tiled floor in a huge puddle. Maybe she hadn’t needed the bathroom after all, at least not in the traditional sense.

“DICK!” she yelled at the top of her lungs, not convinced it would wake him but trying all the same.

She soon proved herself louder than falling objects, thunder storms, and the neighbours having a rave upstairs when Dick came running at the sound of his name being yelled in distress.

“Mac? Dude, what the hell is that smell...?” the blond was asking as he came hurrying to the bathroom door and then gasped in shock at the sight that met his bleary eyes.

Mac hadn’t realised she was crying until that moment, when she tried to speak and her words came out as a strangled sob. This was scary, beyond scary in fact, as pain ripped through her body and her feet stuck to the floor when she tried to move them.

“Okay, gross,” Dick admitted, mostly talking to himself, “but so not the issue right now. Er, hospital, right?” he checked with Mac who nodded dumbly in response, before a shriek escaped as another contraction tore through her.

It was comfort at least to know that Dick was in some kind of control. He practically carried her out of the bathroom, the both of them still in their nightwear and not even caring as he got her to the elevator and down. They were in the car and ready to leave within moments, and then he stopped.

“Mac?” he said, turning to look at her beside him in the passenger seat. “It’s gonna be okay,” he promised as she met his eyes.

Through the pain and the panic she seemed to have no control over, Mac found a little calm in those words and the sincerity with which they were spoken. She nodded that she believed him and then immediately went back to concentrating on breathing through this. Thankfully the hospital wasn’t far, and that was a good thing. Something suggested this baby had waited its time and wasn’t prepared to waste a moment more.

* * *

It was a complete fluke how they found out. Weevil had been driving home from a date that had gone well, and pulled up at the lights beside a vehicle he recognised. The state of both Mac and Dick made it clear she had gone into labour, and it was without a moments pause that he had called up Veronica to let her know the news. He was sure she would want to know, what with Mac being her best girl friend, and Dick not having any support of his own but Logan. Weevil didn’t care much for rich white boys, but so far Casablancas was proving himself where Mac was concerned. No doubt he was going to go to pieces when it came to the crunch and any support that could be there for both him and Mac was a good thing as far as Weevil was concerned.

Veronica came bolting into the hospital, in whatever clothes she could lay her hands on fastest, Logan on her heels in a similar state. They swung into the maternity ward, with panic written on their faces, gabbling to the nurse at the desk about their friends and how they were sure they were here.

“Are you family?” asked the nurse, and Logan was quick to answer.

“Yeah, Dick’s my brother,” he lied easily, after all they were that close these days, and in every sense but blood what he said was true.

“Alright, I’ll go see what I can find out.” She smiled in response and walked away.

“I hope Mac is okay,” said Veronica as she leaned into Logan’s embrace. “I know she was desperate to get that baby out already, but this is definitely not the fun part.”

“She’ll be fine,” her boyfriend assured her, kissing the top of her head. “Women have been having baby’s for thousands of years. Can’t be that hard,” he joked, almost wishing he hadn’t when an expectant mother walked by, huffing and puffing under the strain.

Veronica turned her head away, trying not to laugh. She wouldn’t change her boyfriend for the world, but sometimes Logan just didn’t think when he made jokes.

* * *

“Oh God!” Mac wailed some as she tried to breathe through the pain and failed miserably to do so.

“It’s okay, Cindy, you’re doing fine,” the doctor assured her as he looked beneath the sheet to where the baby was trying to make his or her entrance into the world. “We’re almost there, now on the next contraction, I need you to push as hard as you can”

“I’m not sure I can,” she panted, feeling sick. “It really hurts,” she said, as if they hadn’t already guessed that much.

The nurse stood by Dick nudged him with her elbow and got his attention, which so far had been fixed solely on Mac, though he was silent throughout.

“Give her some encouragement,” she urged the freaked out father-to-be. “There’s not much you can do for her now, but you can tell her how well she’s doing.”

Dick nodded dumbly, feeling stupid. He didn’t know how to deal with this, he thought he did, but he really didn’t. Everything in him was telling him to run away, every instinct made him want to bolt from this room and never come back, because it was all too serious and scary. He was out of his depth in the worst way and didn’t know where to begin. Of course, one look at Mac glued him to the spot. He couldn’t leave her, he loved her, and all he wanted to do was help her. All he needed to do was tell her how awesome she was and help her through this, then things would be better.

“C’mon, Mac,” he said, gripping her hand tighter in his. “Babe, you are totally tougher than this,” he assured her, encouraging her to look at him. “We have gotten through so much crap that life threw at us, okay? This is just one more thing, and when it's done, you never have to do it again. It’ll be cool, we’ll have our kid and nothing ever has to hurt this bad again.”

Mac smiled gratefully at his encouragement, and nodded her head, moments before the next contraction came. She squeezed Dick’s hand so hard that he wanted to scream almost as loud as she did, as she pushed like her life depended on it. So it went on, with the doctor encouraging Mac to push through each wave of pain, and Dick assuring her he knew she could do it, he had complete faith in her.

“Last one, Cindy,” the doctor told her. “Just one more effort.”

“C’mon, babe, you totally got this,” Dick encouraged her and with one final push there was a baby in the room, crying at the shock of being brought out into the real world so suddenly. “Dude, that was amazing,” the proud new father enthused, as Mac fell back against the pillows in relief that it was finally over.

“Congratulations,” said the nurse with a wide smile, lifting the baby to where both parents could see. “You have a son.”


	29. Chapter 29

Dick was completely amazed as he sat on the edge of the bed beside Mac, looking down at the baby in her arms. This was his son, his own flesh and blood, a tiny being made up of all the best parts of himself and Mac alone. He was beautiful and perfect, and Dick didn’t know why exactly but he was sure he could just sit here staring at this kid for hours.

“Can you believe we did this?” asked Mac, taking her eyes off her son just long enough to glance up at her boyfriend. “This is our baby,” she said with a giggle, somehow finding the whole concept ridiculous and incredible at the same time.

“Babe, I don’t even... There are like no words,” said Dick, inarticulate as ever, but this time Mac couldn’t blame him.

This was the most overwhelming feeling. They were parents now, and although they’d known they were going to get to this point for months, it was a whole different thing actually being here in this moment. This was their family, each other and their son. It was going to take a while for it to became normal, and yet it already felt so right to both Mac and Dick.

“You were so awesome today,” he told her, hugging her and the baby close.

“You weren’t so bad yourself,” she replied in kind, glad enough to lean into his embrace. “Dick, I... I really don’t think I could’ve got through all this without you,” she admitted, tears forming in her eyes before she even had a chance to think about it. “I love you so much.”

“Love you too, sweetheart,” he told her, “but seriously, Mac, I was so freaking out when I found you in the bathroom all... y’know,” he explained, making a weird and disgusted face. “I guess somebody oughta clean that up...” he said thoughtfully, but didn’t need to elaborate further as a nurse came in and smiled at the couple.

“I thought you might like to know, your brother and sister-in-law are in the waiting area,” she told Dick. “Would you like me to bring them through?”

The blonde looked deeply confused and he a little freaked out, as he opened his mouth to speak. Mac dived in straight over the top of anything he might’ve said.

“Yes, please. We’d love to see them.” She smiled brightly at the nurse, turning to Dick the moment she was gone. “It has to be Logan and Veronica,” she told him. “I don’t know how they knew we were here but I can’t think of anybody else, can you?”

“I guess not,” her boyfriend agreed.

A minute or two later, the door opened again, and Mac’s theory was proven right as Veronica came rushing in, with Logan on her heels.

“Oh my God,” she gasped the moment she cleared the doors, her hands covering her face as she looked at her friends and the tiny baby Mac was holding.

“Veronica, Logan.” She smiled, adjusting her child in her arms. “Come meet our son.”

“Mac, he’s just gorgeous,” her best friend enthused as Dick moved a little to let her get closer. “And so tiny!” she added as she reached out a finger to the baby’s own miniature hand.

“Congrats, man,” said Logan, reaching to shake hands with Dick.

“Thanks, bro,” he replied as he got up and the pair pulled each other into a manly hug. “Now I just gotta hope he turns out more like his mom’s side of the family than mine,” he said a little too seriously.

“Hey, if he turns out the way you are now, he’ll do just fine,” Veronica told him, shocking not just Dick but everyone in the whole room. “What?” she asked when she looked back at Mac and saw her staring agape.

“Veronica, I think whilst you’re here at the hospital you should maybe get your head checked out,” she told her friend softly. “You just complimented Dick.”

The blonde rolled her eyes at that.

“I give credit where credit’s due,” she reminded them, looking back at Mac’s boyfriend. “And seriously, Dick, you’ve really manned up with the whole baby deal. You’ve been there for Mac the whole way and I wanna believe you’re gonna be there for your son now he’s here,” she said, standing up to face him and looking serious.

“And if you don’t,” Logan chimed in, his hands on Veronica’s shoulders as he looked over at his BFF, “I can promise she’ll make sure you never make any more babies, that’s for sure.”

Dick winced at even the vague imagery, but was soon distracted as his son started up screaming and crying in Mac’s arms.

“Apparently that means hungry,” she confirmed, glancing up at her friends with a significant look.

“And that’s our cue to leave,” said Logan with a nod of understanding.

He was shaking hands with Dick again, whilst Veronica stepped in close to Mac and the baby a moment.

“We’ll come back another time, check in on you two.” She smiled widely. “I’m so happy for you, Mac. I seriously am.”

“Me too.” Her friend nodded, thanking the blonde for the visit, before Veronica and Logan finally left, allowing Mac to feed her son as nature intended.

Out in the hallway, Logan was a little surprised to find his girlfriend wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. All red and puffy she turned to him, trying to force a smile and yet more tears trickled down her cheeks unbidden.

“Hey,” he said, pulling her into a hug. “Please tell me this is happy tears?” he checked.

“Totally, yes,” she confirmed, sniffling into his shoulder a moment.

“Happy, but not in any way broody?” her boyfriend doubled-checked, at which Veronica laughed.

“Definitely not that,” she promised him as she looked up at last. “At least, not yet.”

“Good to know.” He nodded, before planting a kiss on her lips. “Kinda beautiful though, I guess,” he admit, tipping his head towards Mac’s room that they had just excited.

“Yeah, it really kind of is.” Veronica smiled, as they headed off down the corridor with their arms around each other.

* * *

It had been a long day, and yet it wasn’t over yet. Dick figured it was probably around mid-afternoon by now, but Mac was fast asleep already. Having been up since midnight, and all the energy she used up giving birth to their son, even Dick understood why she needed her sleep. The weird part was, he wasn’t tired at all.

Dick figured maybe years of staying up all night partying had served him well in preparing him for fatherhood. He would have to get up for night feeds and to rock the baby back to sleep when he woke up bawling for no apparent reason. Life was going to be tough, but Dick was going to pull his weight and do his part in this, of that he was certain.

“You and me, little man,” he told the baby, even though he was as fast asleep as his mother. “We’re gonna be like best buds and everything,” he promised him in a low whisper, so as not to wake mother or child. “I’m gonna teach you to ride a bike, take you to your first baseball game, and when you’re older I can totally help you out with the chicks, man. Kinda your dad’s specialist subject... but don’t mention that to mom, okay? I don’t want her to think she’s not my all time lover, ‘cause she totally is,” he said definitely, looking from his son to Mac’s sleeping form then.

It was crazy how things could change. Back in High School she was just like the chick from Ghostworld, a semi-hot girl hidden beneath her own geekdom. Then she was Beav’s girl, and another person that he could use to get at his kid brother. After that Dick and Mac were almost-enemies to almost-friends in the space of the first year in college, and now, he couldn’t imagine life without her right there by his side.

They shared their lives, an apartment, a bed, everything, including a baby now. He loved her, like he never loved anyone before, and Dick was positive he would never want any other woman but Mac. It had been a scary realisation, but at the same time, he kinda liked the feeling that this was his life now, a happy family life, the kind of which he never had before.

“No!” Mac waking up with a start made Dick jump too.

He rushed to her side and put his hands to her shoulders when she looked as if she might leap clean out of bed.

“Hey, it’s okay,” he promised her. “You’re okay, Macky, you just had a bad dream or something, I guess.”

Mac looked at Dick and then across at her baby in the hospital crib-on-wheels. Seeing she was breathing hard and still looking panicked, Dick fetched their son over and handed him right on over to Mommy. She immediately calmed down, and yet tears streaked down her face that were enough to scare him.

“What happened?” he asked, feeling confused as he sat down on the edge of the bed beside his girlfriend.

“I’m sorry.” Mac sniffled, holding her baby close. “I just... I have this stupid fear. I keep thinking what if... what if they get him mixed up with someone else’s baby?” she asked helplessly, knowing the odds were massive but it was just a fear she could not quash.

“Dude! No way!” said Dick definitely, putting his arms around both his woman and child. “This is our kid, and nobody is taking him anywhere, no way,” he repeated definitely, making Mac feel all better when he kissed the top of her head then. “Hey, maybe it’d help if we gave him a name?” he suggested them.

Mac frowned.

“We could, but we never did figure out what to call him,” she noted. “We never got past A in the baby names book,” she reminded her boyfriend.

“Huh,” he replied somewhat non-verbally as he thought on it. “Well, okay... How about Adam?” he tried. “Didn’t we both like that?”

Mac looked from Dick to the baby in her arms and then she smiled.

“Yeah, Adam,” she agreed. “I do like that.”

* * *

“Mom, Dad.” Mac smiled as they entered the hospital room. “Come meet Adam, your grandson,” she told them, with a somewhat nervous giggle that she just couldn’t help.

“Oh my God!” Natalie gasped as she came rushing over to see her daughter and the newest addition to the family.

“Congratulations, Dick,” said Sam as he shook the younger man’s hand. “Please believe me when I tell you, there’s no feeling in the world like becoming a father.”

“Totally true, Mr Mac,” he agreed with a nod, before turning to the teen who was hovering back by the door. “Hey, Ry!” he called to him. “Come meet your... like, nephew,” he figured out eventually.

With a huff and sigh, Ryan wandered over, clearly feeling awkward and quite possibly uninterested when it came to his older sister’s baby. It was the typical reaction of a boy his age, and Mac didn’t mind at all that ‘Uncle Ryan’ didn’t look too impressed by baby Adam. He would understand one day, just hopefully not as soon as Mac herself had started a family!

“What do you think, Dad?” Mac asked him as he peered over his wife’s shoulder at the baby now held in her arms. “Personally, I think he has your nose,” she told him, knowing they were all too aware that it was impossible, but not even caring as she smiled up at the only man she had ever known as her father.

“I think... you might be right,” he told her regardless of how silly it was. “Y’know, you may be a little younger than we anticipated, but I have no doubt you’ll make a wonderful mother, Cindy,” he assured her. “The way things are going, I really think you’ll both be just fine,” he said, looking from his daughter to Dick as he approached the bed.

“We’re gonna try,” Mac promised, as her boyfriend sat down beside her and hugged her close with one arm around her shoulders.

“Hey, we’re like the ultimate dream team!” he declared perhaps a little too loudly, but his enthusiasm was appreciated by all. “There is nothing we can’t do together,” he told Mac definitely, planting a kiss on her lips without even caring that her parents and brother were present.

“Gross,” Ryan muttered in the background, only to be told by his father to be quiet.

“Bro, one day you will totally understand!” said Dick with a wink, though Ryan still looked unimpressed.

Mac looked at the scene around her with a huge ridiculous grin on her face. She knew life wasn’t going to be straightforward from here on out. Raising a baby was hard work and she was all aware of that, but right now she couldn’t be happier with how things were turning out. Her family were all here, still supporting her after everything, she had a son of her own now, and a man at her side who loved her to no end. She loved him just as much and it showed in her eyes as she looked up at him, sure from the way he smiled back that he was just as happy to be here as she was.

The truth was, Dick really was having similarly rosy thoughts. Maybe that night when he and Mac first got together wasn’t so much of a fluke as fate’s grand plan, he realised, as he thought on it some more. All Dick knew for sure was that he was really glad it happened. For once in his life, getting drunk and hooking up with some chick was the best thing he had ever done, because that chick was Cindy Mackenzie. He never knew he could love someone like he loved her and their son, but it was as true as he was sitting here. Dick felt like he had finally found where he was supposed to be in the world, and it was right here, forever.


End file.
